The Dumping Ground Life
by ChloeLouu
Summary: This is the story of the Dumping Ground, featuring all the characters from Series 2 and a new girl, Ella. Watch as their life goes on and chaos ensues.
1. 21: Kick Off

**Ella's PoV:**

"Right, you horrible lot! In you come, grubs up. Chop chop!" Mike called from the front door and I pushed myself up off the bench and made my way inside.

"Wash your hands on the way in, please" Mike said.

It was only moments later when I saw May-Li run out of the house and take down a young boy and I ran out to watch.

"Gotcha!" She grinned.

"Serjay, hi. Giving you a bit of a workout, was he?" Mike grinned, slapping the careworker on the back.

"Thought he needed the exercise" The boy said.

"Hi, you must be Bailey" Mike said, offering his hand to the boy.

"You look like you need a bit of a workout yourself" Bailey said and I stifled a laugh.

"Get inside, you lot" Mike said and we all went back inside to sit around the table, ready to eat supper.

I looked up when Bailey entered the room, dropping the ball on Mo's head from behind him.

"Ow!" Mo complained, holding his head.

"Go sit over there" Bailey instructed.

"No, Mo. You don't have to move" Tee said.

"You come sit over here" May-Li said to Bailey.

"Can I have some egg?" Carmen asked when Bailey eventually sat down and I handed her the plate.

"Scrambled egg, boiled egg, fried egg-"

"Egg sandwiches!" Johnny said and I chuckled, glancing at Bailey who was shovelling his food down his throat at top speed.

"Has someone been starving you?" Floss asked, sounding concerned.

"Building myself up, big match tomorrow" Bailey explained.

"What kind of match?" Faith asked.

"League Cup Final, my team's gonna storm it" Bailey boasted.

"Are you the captain?" Harry asked.

"Should be"

"Are you even any good?" Rick said.

"I'm way better than good" Bailey said.

"I meant the team"

"I am the team"

"Oh, I bet your teammates love hearing you say that" I said, sarcasm lacing my tone.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd be happy to hear it" Johnny agreed.

"They're lucky to have me. I'm turning pro as soon as I can" Bailey said.

"Who d'ya wanna play for?" Jody asked.

"Barcelona would probably offer me the most but I wouldn't turn Liverpool down either" Bailey said.

"I'd rather play for Man U" Frank said.

"I thought you looked like a loser" Bailey smirked and I rolled my eyes, continuing to eat as he got up.

"Bailey, we're still eating" May-Li said.

"No one's stopping you" He said, walking off.

"He really fancies himself" Johnny noted.

"Yeah, wonder if hes as good as he thinks he is?" Rick said.

"There's only one way to find out" Frank said and I knew we were in for a football match.

_**20 minutes later..**_

I followed Carmen outside and we squished on the bench with Tee and Floss whilst the others played football, Mo standing behind us.

"Back, Blondie, back!" Bailey shouted at Harry as he moved past him.

"Go on, Jody. Now!" Johnny encouraged and she went to tackle Tyler.

"Whip it past her, Tyrone" Bailey said.

"It's Tyler!" Tyler snapped.

"I don't care what your name is. Maybe if you lost a bit of weight, you'd move a bit faster" Bailey said and everyone's jaws dropped.

"Bailey!" I spat.

"That's not nice" Jody said.

"Neither's losing" Bailey retaliated before shooting and scoring a goal, celebrating and I rolled my eyes.

"I've gotta go" Frank announced.

"See ya Frank" I called, my voice flitting among the others as the match continued.

"Ella?" I looked up to see May-Li stood at the top of the little banking and I got up, heading over there.

"Will you help me put the younger ones to bed?" She asked.

"Sure. Floss, you coming?" I called.

"Harry, Mo!" May-Li shouted and the five of us headed into the house.

"Come on, little one" I said, chasing Floss up to her bedroom and helping her with her pyjamas.

"Shall we go brush your teeth?" I said, following her into the bathroom.

"Floss, sweetie, do you wanna come show Bailey his room?" May-Li asked, popping her head into the room.

"Yeah" Floss said and I followed her and May-Li into Bailey's new room.

"You've got Frank's old room. If you don't like it, you're allowed to paint it" Floss said as Bailey set his things down on the bed.

"Who asked you, Ginger Nut? The social worker said I'm only gonna be here for the night" Bailey spat and I frowned.

"Good 'cos I thought I liked you but I don't" Floss snapped, storming off to her room with May-Li followed.

"Little bit of advice for ya, y'know, if you wanna survive in a place like this. Get in with the little ones 'cos they're gonna be your only friends if you carry on acting the way you do. They're a bit more forgiving, y'see. Speak to Floss, or any of the younger ones like that again, and I'll be having words. Understood?" I spat.

"I'm shaking in my boots" Bailey said in a bored tone.

"You should be" I said, making my way out of his room and downstairs.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" I asked Harry, spotting him hiding in the lounge.

"I'm hiding from Mike" He said as I crouched down beside him.

"I don't think so. Go on, get your bum to bed. You don't want me telling Mike about your hiding place, do you?" I smiled and he shook his head, running up to his room.

I flopped on the sofa and grabbed the remote just as Rick went to get it.

"You snooze, you lose" I grinned and he let out a huff, sitting on the other sofa.

_**90 minutes later..**_

"Alright, you lot. Up to your rooms" Mike announced as he stepped into the lounge, finding Johnny, Rick, Tee and I watching a film.

"But our film isn't finished" Tee whined.

"You watched this last week, go on" Mike said and I groaned, getting up and heading up to my room.

I had a quick tidy up before changing into my pyjamas and heading to brush my teeth.

I nudged Tee as I came to stand beside her in the bathroom.

"You didn't see Mo on the way, did you?" Tee asked.

"No, hes in bed" I said.

"Oh good, he's been pestering me again" Tee said as she wrapped her hair up in a towel.

"Nightmare" I laughed, quickly brushing my teeth before heading to bed.

**NEXT DAY**

"ELLA! Breakfast, let's go!" Mike yelled, banging loudly on my door.

"Go away" I whined and he pushed open my door, chucking a squishy ball at me.

"Up you get, everyone else is already eating" Mike said and I sat up, throwing the ball back at him and he laughed when I missed, closing my door.

I quickly got ready before grabbing my phone and heading downstairs, slipping into my seat opposite Tee with Mo beside me..

"So now you can see how many calories you're eating to make sure it's less than your daily allowance" Carmen explained to Tyler.

"You shouldn't count calories though, Ty, it's not good for you" I said, pouring myself a glass of juice.

"It's what my mum used to do every time she got a new boyfriend" Carmen said.

"Seriously?" Tee asked.

"Yeah"

"I'd never lose weight for a boy" Tee said, shaking her head.

"You don't need to lose weight, Tyler" Mike said.

"Lend me your specs" Bailey said to Mo and I frowned, knowing he'd completely ignored my warning.

"No, I need them" Mo said.

"Stop winding Tyler up" Jody snapped at Bailey.

"Butt out, Shrimp" Bailey said, grabbing her magazine from her.

"Hey!"

"Enough!" Mike shouted.

"And take the football boots off, Bailey. They're not allowed indoors" Mike sighed.

"You do know your name's falling off?" Mo said, spotting Bailey's peeling shirt and I hid my laughter.

"It's not about my back, it's about my feet" Bailey said.

"It's probably a good job" I smirked.

"I bet he didn't know how to use a washing machine, he had the water too hot" Johnny laughed.

"Come on, guys. Cut him some slack. It's a big day for him, maybe he's a bit nervous" Mike said, clapping Bailey's back.

"I don't do nervous" Bailey bit back.

"No?" Mike asked.

"I'm taking my team to victory, I'm going to be a hero!" Bailey announced.

"No one's going to think you're a hero in a top like that, are they?" Carmen smirked.

"Oooh!" We all laughed and Bailey grabbed the jug of juice, throwing it in Carmen's face which caused her to let out a screech.

"Bailey!" Mike barked.

"Are you being serious?!" Carmen screamed, chasing him out of the kitchen with Mike taking the lead.

"Bailey! You can kiss that final goodbye if you don't come back down here and apologise to Carmen now" Mike said as Bailey went to run upstairs and Carmen, Tee and I came to a stop beside Mike.

"You can't stop me." Bailey said.

"That's not really a theory that you wanna test right now" Mike said.

"Sorry" Bailey mumbled, only for Mike to clear his throat.

"I said sorry!" Bailey yelled, storming off.

"You best wash that out of your hair" I said and Carmen huffed, heading upstairs and I chuckled, going back into the kitchen.

"Did he apologise?" Johnny asked me.

"Yeah, Mike made him." I said.

"Ella, you're on cleanup duty" Mike said as the other kids started to disperse.

_**20 minutes later..**_

"What are you four up to?" I asked as Harry, Jody, Tyler and Floss started to get things from the cupboard.

"Getting Tyler's calorie intake for the day" Jody said as they started counting calories for sweets and I shook my head, leaving them to it.

"I hope all your teeth fall out!" I heard Floss say and I chuckled, knowing he'd end up feeling horribly ill by the end of the day whether he had teeth left or not.

"May-Li! He won't share!" Floss whined as May-Li walked in with the washing, the argument just starting to pick up.

"I don't have to. This is my diet, all the food I need for the day and we've counted all the calories and everything" Tyler said and I placed the last plate away, joining the four young kids at the breakfast bar with May-Li.

"I want to go on his diet" Floss said.

"Me too!" Harry agreed.

"Well, you can't" May-Li said.

"Why is _he_ allowed to?" Floss shouted and May-Li whispered something to the two of them.

"You two don't need to diet, you're cute enough as it is" I said, tickling Floss' tummy and she laughed.

"And what are you doing with Faith's laptop?" May-Li asked.

"Erm, putting it back" Jody said.

"Hold it right there!" May-Li said.

"We were just using it" Jody said.

"You wouldn't like it if someone just took something of yours" May-Li said.

"But it wasn't really a take, it was more of a borrow" Jody explained.

"A borrow without asking is a take" May-Li said.

"Give me a lift to the football ground. I need to go now!" Bailey demanded as he stepped into the kitchen.

"I thought Mike was taking you?"

"He was until Man U boy pitched up" Bailey said and Tyler and Jody took the opportunity to try sneak off.

"I'm in the middle of something. If Mike said he'd take you then. You're not invisible" May-Li called to Tyler and Jody and Bailey stormed off.

I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen, flopping onto the sofa opposite Carmen and Tee.

I let out a small groan when Bailey walked in, rolling my eyes.

"How long does it take to get to the playing fields from here?" He asked.

"Walking or by car?" Tee asked.

"Running. Mike said he's gonna take me but hes talking to Frank. If I'm late, coach won't let me play and if I don't play, we'll lose" Bailey explianed.

"How dyou know? They'll probably do even better without you there" Johnny smirked.

"Yeah?" Bailey said, going to attack Johnny.

"Woah, pack it in! What are you doing?" Johnny spat, pushing him away.

"Bailey!" I shouted when he started knocking things over.

"Calm down!" Carmen shouted.

"Why are you doing this?" Rick snapped as I helped Tee and Carmen over the back of the sofa when he stormed towards them, only for him to throw teddies at us.

"Not the TV!" Carmen said as Bailey knocked it over.

"Pack it in!"

"Bailey, stop! What are you doing?" I asked when he pushed Rick over the sofa armrest and he ran from the house.

Mike and May-Li entered the room with the other kids once they'd heard the commotion.

"He ran out of the house" I said, starting to pick up the blocks he'd knocked over.

"Hes wrecked the TV" Rick announced.

"Oh, where is he?" Mike asked.

"I don't know" May-Li said.

"Faith's been hurt" Bailey announced and we all raced outside, following him to the ambulance.

"Faith! Faith, what happened?" Mike asked as we reached her.

"It's not his fault. I was trying to catch up with Bailey" Faith explained.

"Tell May-Li that I've gone to the hospital with Faith" Mike instructed and I nodded.

"You can drop me off at the grounds" Bailey said, going to get in the ambulance.

"No! Get out!" Mike said, pushing him back and Johnny caught him when he went to take off.

"Oh, no you don't. You're not going anywhere" He said, restraining him and we all forced him back to the house.

"MAY-LI!" We all yelled and she ran into the hall where we were.

"Come on now, give him some space" May-Li said, the younger kids appearing behind her.

"He was going to leg it" Johnny said.

"Mike's gone to take Faith to the hospital. Can you take me to the match?" Bailey asked.

"You're not going" May-Li said.

"You've got no right to stop me!" Bailey yelled.

"Get in there and clean up the mess you made and you'll be paying for any repairs. Do it" May-Li snapped and he walked into the lounge after Johnny gave him a shove.

"He's such an idiot" Carmen said and we all headed into the lounge, sitting on the sofas to wait for news about Faith.

"May-Li says they're keeping Faith in for overnight observation but she's going to be alright" Rick said as he walked in.

"I knew she'd be okay" Bailey said as he continued to tidy up.

"What is wrong with you? You hear Faith's okay and all you can say is you knew?" Carmen said, shaking her head.

"What do you want me to say?" He said.

"You could at least be pleased!" Tee said.

"You should say sorry" Mo added.

"I never made her run into the road" Bailey argued.

"She was chasing you! You are the most selfish person I have ever met in my whole life" I said, shaking my head in disgust.

"Come on, you lot. Lunch" May-Li called and I got up, heading into the kitchen and sitting down.

"You made jacking pots and bacon?" Tyler asked as May-Li started to serve lunch.

"I wasn't going to 'cos I didn't have enough potatoes but once I knew you didn't want one, I thought I would" May-Li said.

"Actually, can I have a couple out of there, please?" Carmen asked, going to get some sweets from Tyler and Harry and Floss copied.

"No." Tyler said, slapping Floss' hand.

"Ow! Tyler hit me!" Floss shouted.

"Because thats his supper and tomorrow's breakfast." Jody explained.

"And it's going in the office for safe keeping" May-Li said, confiscating the box.

"There's a letter for Faith! It's from the the Athletic's Board." Mo shouted as he walked in.

"Let's steam it open and see if she made the team" Jody said, snatching it from him.

"First her laptop and now her post? I don't think so" May-Li said, taking it from her.

"Carmen, will you pass me the salad?" I asked, accepting the dish from her before tucking into my food.

_**30 minutes later..**_

"Have you seen my magazine?" I asked Carmen as I stepped into the living room and she handed it to me without even looking up from her own.

"Thank you" I said, sitting on the other sofa.

"House meeting!" May-Li shouted and all the kids gathered on the sofa.

"I know you guys were expecting Faith to come back tomorrow night but unfortunately, she has to stay in hospital a little bit longer. The doctors are going to have to do surgery on her back" May-Li explained and I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face.

"Is she going to die?" Floss asked.

"No, Floss." May-Li reassured her.

"I've always wanted to go to a funeral" Floss said, sounding somewhat disappointed and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to make her a very great big 'Get Well Soon' card" Mo said with a nod.

"When's she coming home?" Harry asked.

"We don't know yet" May-Li said before hearing a car pull up and walking out.

"Poor Faith" Rick said.

"This is gonna make her snap" I said, shaking my head.

"Do you want a hand with that card, Mo?" I asked, standing up and grabbing the arts and crafts box for him.

"Please" He said and we made our way into the kitchen, the others following when May-Li told us she had something to tell us.

"Has something else happened to Faith?" Frank asked as he walked into the kitchen with May-Li.

"No. She's still in the operating theatre. It's actually about-"

"The nasty boy's staying" Floss announced as she walked in.

"Are you being serious? Why is he staying?! Just send him to Burnywood! Nobody wants him here" Carmen exclaimed.

"I don't wanna stay either!" Bailey shouted as he walked in and we all shut up.

"So you keep out of my way and I'll keep out of yours" He spat.

"Good" Floss sassed as he walked off.

"How about you lot starting getting supper ready?" May-Li said.

_**20 minutes later..**_

"May-Li, can I have my sweets? So I can choose what to have for tea" Tyler asked as he walked in.

"Sure." May-Li said as Mike walked in.

"Mike! How's Faith?" She asked.

"Did she have the operation?" Johnny asked.

"She's had the operation and she's back in her room. She was asleep when I left her" Mike said, sitting beside me at the table.

"She's gonna be okay though, isn't she?" Carmen asked.

"It's a little too early to know for sure. It's been a bit of a crazy day, eh?" Mike sighed.

"Hey, Frank! Are you going to stay and have something to eat with us?" He asked.

"Yeah" Frank said as everyone started to sit down.

"I'll go speak to Bailey" Mike said, getting up.

"Do you have to bring him down here?" I whined and Mike tapped my head.

"Enough of that. Set a good example for the others, yeah?" He said and I sighed, nodding.

"Good lass" He said, walking off.

"Someone's eaten all of my sweets, the box is half empty and May-Li swears she didn't eat all of them so one of you must know something." Tyler said as Bailey walked in with Mike.

"Right, well, whoever's done it has done you a favour. Even if you did lose weight, you would have been the spottiest kid around" Rick said.

"I don't even think he'd have lost weight. Eating sugar is a bit like flipping a switch telling your body to store fat" Mike said as May-Li brought tea over.

"Lasagne! My favourite" Tyler grinned.

"No! Is it really?" May-Li grinned.

"Better stick to my diet, it's probably way more than my limit's worth" Tyler said.

"Don't think so. It's only 600 calories for that and some salad" May-Li said.

"I don't feel well, I'll just have a piece of lettuce" Floss said.

"And why is that? What else have you been eating today?" May-Li asked.

"You might as well finish these" Tyler said, handing Floss the box of sweets and she got up, hurrying from the room with her mouth covered.

"I'll go, she'll be fine" Mike said, following her.

"Anyway, let's all drink to Faith" Frank said.

"To Faith!" We all toasted, the night ending in us all relaxing in front of the TV before heading off to bed.


	2. 22: Quitters

**Ella's PoV:**

"Faith's coming home today, she'll be here any minute" Tee said, poking her head through my bedroom door.

"Alright, I'll be down in a second" I said, pulling a cardigan on before following her downstairs.

We all ran into the hallway when we heard the door open and let out a cheer when Mike pushed Faith through the door in her wheelchair.

"Here, let me take this" Mike offered.

"I can do it" She insisted.

"Where do I put my stuff?" She asked, clearly not in the mood for our celebrations.

"We made you a surprise!" Mo announced and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well done Mo" Lily said sarcastically.

"Okay, come on then. Close your eyes" Carmen instructed and everyone guided her into what was now her new room.

"Are you ready?" Carmen said as we all reached her room.

"Ta Da!" We all fell silent when Faith didn't react.

"Okay guys, let's give her some space, shall we?" Mike said.

"But Mike?" Tee said.

"Out. Please, now. Come on, all of you. Outside" Mike instructed and I sighed, making my way out of Faith's room.

"Off you go" Mike said, shutting the door behind him and we all went into the lounge, hearing crashes coming from Faith's room.

"Does this mean she doesn't want to see my downstairs shower invention?" Mo asked.

"Mo, it's a watering can" Tyler sighed.

"We shouldn't have made such a fuss. We should have just kept things low key" May-Li said.

"You're right. She's probably just desperate to get back to normal" Mike agreed.

"Yeah but normal for Faith is running a marathon before breakfast" Johnny said.

"She won't be doing that for a while" Lily added.

"Will she be in a wheelchair forever?" Harry asked.

"No. Only until her back gets better" Mike said.

"And when will that be?" Carmen asked.

"We don't know yet. She has to be patient" May-Li said as the crashing noises continued.

"Sounds like Faith's not too good at being patient" Rick sighed.

"Oh, come on. Put yourself in her shoes. We're all gonna have to make a bit of an effort now"

"Well, she's better off here than stuck in hospital on her own" I said with a shrug as a car horn went off in a stupid tone.

"Are we expecting someone?" May-Li asked.

"Rude." Lily commented.

"Is it the ice cream man?!" Floss squealed.

"Dad? Hey, thats my dad!" Bailey shouted, running outside.

"Dad? What?" We all ran out, following him, Mike and May-Li joining us.

I stepped outside to see Bailey push his dad off him and I held onto Floss' shoulders so she wouldn't run over to them but we all made our way over to the gate.

"Mr Wharton? Michael Milligan, head careworker" Mike said, offering his hand to Bailey's dad.

"Right. So if you're the guv'nor, how come you didn't take my boy to his match?" Bailey's dad asked.

"Sorry?" Mike said.

"It wasn't his job. It was you that did a bunk and left him! Where have you been?!" Jody shouted.

"I'm here now" He said.

"You can't turn up acting all innocent, acting like you never did anything wrong" Jody snapped and Lily went to move her back.

"Jody!"

"Is she a mate of yours?" Bailey's dad asked.

"Thats enough"

"Go get your things, bud" Bailey's dad told him.

"Your sons been placed under an emergency care order" Mike said, stopping Bailey from passing.

"You're not taking him anywhere" May-Li said.

"Hes my dad, you can't stop him" Bailey said.

"I'm afraid we can. We're legally in charge of you now" Mike explained.

"Why don't we go inside and talk? Off you go, you lot" Mike said and we all dispersed, leaving Mike and May-Li to take Bailey and his dad into the office.

"Why can't Bailey's dad take him home?" Floss asked as we walked through the gardens.

"Cos Bailey's dad left him on his own for a bit and Bailey wasn't very safe so Mike doesn't want that to happen again" I explained.

"Is Bailey's dad a nasty man?" She asked as we stepped into the house.

"No, he's just not learnt how to look after Bailey properly" I said.

"Els, we're going to try cheer Faith up. Wanna help?" Carmen asked.

"Sure" I said, glancing at Floss to see her sat with Mo at the table and I followed the girls to Faith's room.

"Right, we've got disco pink or sparkly silver. Which one do you want?" Carmen asked Faith and I manoeuvred around the mess to sit beside Faith.

"I can do your hair if you want?" Lily offered.

"Like a pamper party" Tee added, handing her a tablet.

"Tee's got loads of games and Mike's downloaded us films so we are all good" Carmen explained.

"Or we could just hang out, have a chat, you know. We never really do that" Tee said.

"That might be better" I said.

"Yeah" Carmen said, starting to file Faith's nails.

"So Lily, hows your family?" Tee asked.

"Oh yeah. I got some really cool pictures of Jonah" Lily said, getting them up on her phone.

"Let's see" Carmen said and I let out an aww at the photo of the baby.

"Have you, erm, heard from your brother recently?" Tee asked Faith.

"Yeah, Mike said that he visited you in hospital or something" Carmen said.

"He's working away on a training course" Faith said.

"He is well fit" Carmen said.

"Carmen!" I said and Lily shook her head.

"You said he was too" Carmen said to Lily and I sighed.

"Do you miss him, Faith?" Tee asked.

"Can you go now?" Faith asked, handing the tablet back.

"Get out!" She shouted when none of us moved straight away.

"Come on" I said, getting up.

"Sorry" Tee muttered and we all left, Lily shutting the door behind us.

"She probably thought we were babying her" I said to the girls.

"Yeah but we were only trying to help" Carmen said.

"Not everyone wants it" I shrugged, heading into the lounge.

_**5 minutes later..**_

"Guys, has anyone seen Bailey?!" May-Li shouted.

"Last I saw him, he was with you" I said, getting up to help search for him.

It wasn't long before Frank told us that he'd gone off with his dad and I sighed, flopping down on the sofa.

I was soon joined by Rick and Tyler who were polishing a pair of football boots.

"What are you doing? Those are Bailey's" Jody said as she came in and spotted them.

"So? Bailey's scarpered" Tyler said.

"Hey guys" Frank said.

"Hi Frank" We all said.

"Right Tyler, what do we reckon? Clean enough?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, 'excellent condition' I'd reckon. These boots are worth a lot of money" Tyler said.

"Boot five" Rick said, hitting the boots together.

"Thats not fair, he might need them" Jody said, going to grab them.

"I doubt hes thinking about football Jody" Rick said.

"You can't sell them" I said, sitting up properly.

"Why not?" Tyler said.

"Bailey hasn't given you them so they're stolen and you'll get done by the police for handling stolen goods if you sell them" I said.

"No we won't, she's talking rubbish" Rick declared.

"We'll see" I said, getting up and heading into the kitchen to tidy up from dinner..

"Will the police find him though?" Jody asked May-Li.

"Probably, stop quizzing me"

"Bailey never even wanted to be here anyway" Tee said.

"And hes with his dad, not some randomer" Lily added.

"Yeah, for a few weeks until his dad leaves him on his own again" Jody said, following May-Li.

"Yeah, well, he knows who to call this time doesn't he?" Carmen said.

"What if he can't? What if hes locked in his bedroom as a punishment for causing all this trouble for his dad like my brother did to me?" Jody asked.

"Yeah but the difference was Jody, your brother was really mean. No offence" Carmen said.

"And Bailey's dad could be worse except no one seems to care. I had you lot looking out for me. Who's Bailey got?" Jody said.

"The police are on it, okay?" May-Li said.

"How? Are they expecting him to walk into a cop shop and hand himself in?" Jody said, storming off.

"Will the police find him?" Tee asked May-Li.

"They found me enough times, I'm sure they will" I said with a shrug.

"How many times did you run away?" Carmen asked.

"At least twelve times" I said.

"Why?"

"My home was horrible. It took them twelve times to realise that I needed proper care which is why I'm here" I explained.

"But you've been in care since you were ten, you ran away twelve times under the age of ten?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I was little so I could hide in more places. Best age to do it if you ask me" I said.

"No age is the right age to run away" May-Li said, swotting me with a towel and I grinned, going back into the living room.

"Jody wants me to go to this presentation thing with her to see if we can find Bailey, wanna come?" Carmen asked as Tee and Lily joined me.

"No"

"You're only going to see fit boys run around in shorts" I laughed and Carmen rolled her eyes, running upstairs.

"Wanna watch a film?" I asked and Tee nodded, slipping one into the DVD player.

_**2 hours later..**_

"Carmen and Jody are back" I commented when the door shut and Tee shook Lily to wake her up.

"Lily, are you staying here tonight?" Mike asked as he stepped in.

"Yeah, I'm gonna ring my dad" She said and I shut the TV off, heading up to my own room to bed.

**NEXT DAY**

"Come on, you horrible lot! Breakfast!" Mike called and I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen, sitting at the breakfast bar besides Rick.

"Hey Frank" I said as he walked over.

"She can make her own breakfast, it's only her legs that aren't working" Frank called after May-Li.

"Yes, thank you Frank. To what do we owe the pleasure this time?" Mike asked him.

"I borrowed a pound off Rick" Frank explained.

"Cheers mate, it could have waited though" Rick said.

"And erm my showers not working" Frank added.

"Oh? Have you contacted the council?" Mike asked him.

"Yeah, they're sending someone round"

"You know you can just wash over the kitchen sink" Mike said.

"Thats gross" Carmen commented.

"Like you did in the Victorian times, yeah?" Rick grinned.

"Yeah, old man" Lily laughed.

"Cheeky"

"Jody, theres someone at the door for you. A kid named Daryl. He's waiting in the lobby" Tyler said as he walked in.

"A boy?" Tee, Lily and I echoed.

"Has Jody got a boyfriend?" Carmen laughed and the four of us got up and followed her, watching her talk to him.

"Is this real or is it a wind up?" She asked him.

"It's real, I only got it last night, he wanted me to send him next season's fixtures. Bailey said I wasn't meant to tell anyone" Daryl explained.

"Thanks" Jody said, running off upstairs and I gave Daryl a smile before he walked out, the four of us heading back to breakfast.

"Who was he then?" Johnny asked.

"One of Bailey's mates" I said with a shrug, finishing off my toast.

_**30 minutes later..**_

"They could do a bunk again and hes going to be at the football match so we need to go get him now" Jody told Mike and May-Li as she came into the kitchen with Rick and Tyler.

"Alright, we'll talk to Serjay, see what he suggests" Mike said, walking out with May-Li.

"They're not even trying" Jody said.

"Give over, Jodes" Rick said, getting a slapped hand when he tried to get the football boots.

"He'll be stuffing his face with hot dogs and popcorn. I don't know why you're so fussed!" Tyler said.

"Then you're dumb too. You're all just stupid and selfish" Jody said, going to walk off.

"And you just feel bad 'cos you never liked him either" Johnny said.

"What?" Jody said, turning round and I shrugged, knowing Johnny had a point.

"None of us did, he didn't even try to fit in" Johnny said.

"So that means we don't help him? Hes just a kid. All he's got is his dad, he doesn't know any different" Faith said as she rolled herself into the room.

"So?" Carmen said.

"So how do you think he feels being dumped here with a load of strangers?" Faith asked.

"Well, he didn't have to be so annoying" Tyler said.

"He was just finding his feet. How many of you settled in straight away?" Faith defended.

"Not me" Mo said.

"What times kickoff?" Faith asked.

"Two" Jody confirmed.

"Wait, you're not going, are you?" Rick said.

"Yeah, might be a bit tricky? No offence" Tyler said.

"Come on" Faith sighed and we all got up, following her out of the house.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Okay, so we want the home end right?" Lily said once we came to a stop on the football grounds.

"This way" Faith said, leading the way.

"Excuse me, excuse me" Faith said as we stopped outside a ticket booth.

"Can I get one disabled ticket please?" She asked.

"And seven assistant ones" Jody added.

"That is genius" Tyler said as Faith handed enough money over.

"Faith? Is that all my change? Thats hardly anything" Carmen said.

"Why are football tickets so expensive?" I said, glancing down at the lack of change in my hand.

"Come on" Faith said and we made our way through the stadium.

"Foot long hotdog, I wouldn't say no" Tyler said.

"Er yeah, we're here to find Bailey, remember?" Tee said.

"And you've just eaten!" I exclaimed and we all came to a slow stop when police forced a man through the gates.

"Get your hands off me!" He yelled and I recognised him as Bailey's dad and then Bailey appeared behind him.

"I never touched your stupid pitch! The can fell out of my hand!" He shouted.

"Leave quietly now or you'll make it worse for yourself" The police officer said.

"You flipping leave. I'm supporting my team! ROVERS!" He yelled.

"Drunk" I muttered to Rick and he nodded.

"What's your problem?" Bailey's dad asked.

"Hey Mr Wharton" Jody piped up and Bailey noticed we were here.

"You? They've been stirring it, have they? Trying to pin stuff on me, don't believe a word!"

"We haven't done anything, Mr Wharton" I said.

"Pack of wind up merchants, this lot" He said, giving us a nasty look.

"All wrong'uns from a kids home, you should chuck them out" Mr Wharton said.

"We're not wrong'uns" Jody said.

"Believe a word about what? Let's hear it, pal" The policeman said.

"Yeah, let's hear it Mr Wharton" Rick said.

"Nothing, get off me" Mr Wharton said.

"Nothing? Is that why you did a runner from your flat so Social Services didn't find you?" Jody asked.

"Social Services? What is she on about?"

"Phone them, hes lying" Jody declared.

"I never took no kid, I haven't even got a kid" Mr Wharton said and I sighed.

"What?" Bailey mumbled.

"Ask Bailey. He kidnapped him from our kids' home. You should be arresting him!" Jody said.

"That right, son?" The officer asked.

"No. The kid's got her wires crossed. I've never seen this little squirt before in my life" Mr Wharton said and I shook my head, moving to stand beside Jody, ready to comfort Bailey but he ran off, Jody chasing after him.

"You lot best go finish the match" The police said, taking Mr Wharton out of the grounds.

**To: Jody**

**Come back inside, we're gonna watch the game x**

_**One hour later..**_

"4-1, 4-1, 4-1!" We all chanted as we walked through the front door.

"Where have you all been?" Mike asked, stopping us.

"Oh, just a nice quiet trip to the library"

"It's not funny. Football ground are big, scary places you know!" Mike shouted, following us.

"Don't worry Mike, we'll hold your hand next time!" Jody grinned.

"Next time? What do you mean next time?" Mike spluttered and I laughed, heading into the kitchen where our dinner was waiting.


	3. 23: Experience

**Ella's PoV:**

"What?" I groaned when there was a knock on my bedroom door and Mike stepped inside.

"Up you get, you missed breakfast" He said.

"I didn't want any" I said.

"Okay. Well, we've got a woman coming in today, she's gonna do some filming of you lot so I'd get ready" Mike said and I nodded, sitting up.

"Hurry up" Mike said, leaving the room,.

I quickly got dressed and ready before I hurried downstairs, spotting Floss stood outside the lounge doors.

"Morning Floss" I smiled.

"Morning" She said, letting me get past and step in.

"Hello, I'm Sasha" The woman said who was holding a camera.

"I'm Ella, nice to meet you" I said, sitting on the sofa so I could watch Sasha interview Carmen, knowing she'd be showing off in front of the camera.

"I really like my social worker because she's friendly, she's always there when I need her and just really good to talk to" Carmen said, flashing a grin at the camera.

"What do you like about being in care?" Sasha asked as Tee sat beside me.

"Are you listening to this?" I chuckled and Tee grinned.

"One of the best things about being in care is that there's always someone around your age to talk to and everyone just gets on really well." Carmen grinned and I let out a laugh, covering my mouth when I realised the volume and Tee giggled.

"YOU'RE NOT COMING IN!" Floss shouted from outside the door and I glanced over to the closed doors.

"NOW MOVE OR I'LL THUMP YOU!" Jody yelled back and then the doors opened, Mike and May-Li looking in to see Carmen, Tyler and Harry playing cards quietly as Sasha filmed.

"They're acting like they've had their brains sucked out by aliens! Why would I wanna be a part of that?!" Jody asked and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm just gonna go and get a new battery" Sasha said, leaving the room when her camera beeped.

"What's your problem?" Carmen said to Jody.

"Tyler! What's your problem?" She exclaimed when he threw cards at Carmen and Jody joined us on the sofas.

"What are you up to there, mister?" Mike said, taking the camera off Mo as Carmen and Tyler started arguing.

"If you can't handle my pace then you'll have to play a different game" Tyler said and Carmen flicked cards at him.

"Alright now, come on. Calm down" May-Li said.

"Isn't it funny how when they're not being filmed how everything goes back to normal?" Jody said with a smirk.

"Anyone else hear that buzzing? No? Just me? Oh, sorry Jody, I just thought it was annoying little insect ruining everything" Carmen said and Jody threw cards in her face.

"As per usual!" Carmen snapped, throwing them back.

"Hey, hey, come on you two!" Mike said, breaking them up as Sasha walked in.

"Have you told them?" Sasha asked.

"Erm, no. Not yet" Mike said.

"Told us what?" I asked.

"Okay, well, I need one of you to be the face of my film so I'll follow you around and I'll try and get one person's point of view of life in care" Sasha said, Carmen and Tyler's hands shooting up and Jody walked out.

"Uh, Carmen. She put her hand up first" Sasha said and I rolled my eyes.

"Right, I'll just get set up and you know, jeans, tshirt, you'll be fine" Sasha said and I let out a laugh as Carmen's face dropped.

"Don't know what you're laughing at, I'm the star not you saddos" Carmen grinned.

"Oh shut up, Carmen" I called after her.

"She's gonna be even more insufferable than normal" I rolled my eyes.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Sasha wants me to make a film" Jody said as she walked into the living room where Floss and Carmen were sat with me.

"Jody, you're never gonna end up making this film. You always give up on things" Carmen said.

"Thats not true!" Jody exclaimed.

"You never finish anything" Carmen scoffed.

"Brownies, karate, boxing" I listed and she huffed, walking out and I shook my head, turning the TV on.

_**5 minutes later..**_

"House meeting!" Mike called as he stepped into the living room, a few of the other kids joining as most of us were already gathered in the lounge.

"I was watching that!" I said as May-Li turned the TV off.

"It'll only take two minutes" She sighed.

"Settle down now please! Settle down. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us young man" Mike said as everyone took a seat in front of Mike, May-Li and Jody.

"Quiet" Mike said and Jody stepped forward.

"I'm gonna make a film for social workers to watch, us telling them what they really need to know, what really matters" Jody explained.

"Well, we were already doing that" Carmen said.

"No, you weren't and Sasha didn't think so either. Sasha says the first few days of filming are always messing around, she has to wait to get the stuff thats real and thats what I'm gonna do" Jody said.

"Mike and May-Li have sorted it for me to use the utility room and I'm gonna leave a list in the corridor for you to sign up. Okay, thats it, thanks" Jody said, finishing her speech and Harry ran off.

"Any questions?" May-Li asked and Jody grinned when no one said anything before running out to the utility room.

"Does she really think anyone's gonna take her seriously?" Carmen said as May-Li and Mike left and I turned the TV back on.

"Leave her to it, stops her whining" I said, settling back into the couch.

_**An hour later..**_

"Move Mo" Jody said as she walked into the lounge, pushing past him.

"I've been waiting" She said, stopping at the sofa.

"Then you're gonna be waiting for a lot longer, aren't you?" Carmen said, Mo coming over to film.

"You had a lot to say to Sasha" Jody said.

"Yeah. Mo, do you wanna get that out of my face?" Carmen snapped, pushing his camera away.

"Floss?" Jody asked and she shook her head.

"Ella?"

"I'm watching something" I said, not even looking up at her.

"Harry?"

"No, thanks" Harry said.

"Mo, this doesn't even work" Carmen said, handing Mo the camera back.

"I'm just practicing" He explained.

"Mo?" Jody asked and I sighed when she stood in front of the TV.

"Jody, move!" I said, poking her with my toe.

"Mo!"

"Hmm?" He said, turning to her.

"Do you want to be interviewed?" She asked him.

"What happens when you walk backwards and zoom in at the same time?" Mo asked.

"Mo, it doesn't work!" I said, hoping he'd move so I could see the TV and Jody stormed off.

"So no one's helping Jody then?" Faith asked as she hopped in on her crutches.

"Guess not. Maybe she should have kept her big mouth shut and let Sasha make the film" Carmen said.

"Oh grow up Carmen, what difference does it make?" Faith snapped.

"No one?" Faith said.

"Not even you, Ella?"

"I was watching something, I said I'd do it later" I said.

"No one at all?" Faith asked, looking at the boys.

"What do I know?" Bailey said.

"Are you serious?" Rick sighed.

"Me? I haven't decided yet" Johnny said.

"Why aren't you doing it?" Carmen asked.

"I am actually" Faith said, turning and hopping over to the pool table.

"What about you, Floss Floss? Don't you wanna get that gorgeous face on camera?" Faith asked.

"I like Sasha's film" Floss declared and Faith give Carmen a nasty look.

"See ya later" Faith said, leaving the room.

"She is not telling me what to do" Carmen said, staring after Faith.

"I'm going to see Jody" Floss said and I stood up, helping Floss down from the pool table.

"Wait, no, no, no, thats not what we spoke about, is it?" Carmen said, stopping her.

"So it's okay to tell me what to do?" Floss asked.

"You wouldn't be trying to make everyone not do Jody's film, would ya Carm?" I asked, knowing she'd been influencing the younger ones.

"No, I just. Tell you what you should do, Flossy, I mean if you really wanna help Jody, why don't you go tell her the story about Millie and Bob?" Carmen said and I sighed, watching Floss run off.

"Just 'cos you don't wanna do Jody's film, let the others make up their own minds" I said, going into the kitchen to wait for Floss to finish.

"Get out!" Jody shouted and I spotted Carmen also waiting as Jody kicked Floss out of the utility room.

"I was only trying to help!" Floss shouted.

"Of course you were!"

"I'm not ever offering you help again!" Floss shouted as Tee walked into the kitchen.

"Good!" Jody yelled after her as Floss stormed off.

"Jody, I'll do it" Tee said.

"I will too" I said, moving to stand beside Tee.

"What are you going to say?"

"We'll just answer your questions" Tee said.

"Okay. What's the worst thing about being in care?" Jody asked us.

"Uh, I dunno. Trying to get thirteen people to decide what to watch on TV?" Tee offered.

"No, I mean, does anything else make you really angry about living here?" Jody asked.

"The TV" Tee confirmed.

"Anything else wind you up?" Jody asked Tee.

"Nothing really. I like everyone, y'know, it's nice" Tee said.

"Very funny" Jody said and went into the utility room.

"What?!"

"Did Carmen tell you to say that?" Jody said, slamming the door.

"No! I was just being honest" Tee sighed, walking off and I groaned, following Tee into the living room.

"Jody and Tyler are filming in the garden" Harry said as he walked in and we all crowded round the window, watching them.

"Tyler fell over" Tee laughed.

"It's not funny" Carmen said.

"This is what happens when you give someone like Jody a camera!" Carmen said as we went to sit back down.

"What else has she got to film?" Tee asked.

"These questions are pretty smart" Faith said, coming into the room.

"For Jody's interview?" She added.

"Right" Bailey said.

"Me and Tee were gonna do it but she just shouted at us." I said with a shrug.

"Are you gonna answer some?" Faith asked Bailey.

"I haven't got anything to say. Like I said, I just got put in care" Bailey said.

"Okay. Do you think your social worker listens to you?" Faith asked.

"What's so smart about that?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, deep. They've actually got to stick around long enough to listen" Rick said.

"I reckon they only listen to the stuff they wanna talk about" Bailey said.

"Yeah, if you wanna tell them that somethings wrong, they're just like 'oh yeah, okay, whatever'" Carmen said.

"Unless you've done something wrong" Harry piped up.

"Oh yeah then they're all over ya" Rick agreed.

"What about the new ones?" Johnny said.

"They're even worse. I mean, they sit there asking all these dumb questions but it's like why don't you just go read my file?" Carmen said.

"I loved my first social worker, she was really funny but she only stayed for a month" Harry said.

"None of mine have ever been any good, they didn't listen to anything I said when I first got put into care" I said.

"I hate it when they lie to ya. When me and Tee kept getting promised a new foster home and I dunno, I just think they tell you what you want to hear so it'll shut you up for a bit" Johnny said.

"Why don't you tell Jody that?" Faith asked him.

"Yeah, I will" Johnny said, getting up and walking out of the lounge.

"I tried to help her" I said, standing up and heading up to my room to tidy up.

**NEXT DAY**

"What?!" I shouted when there was a knock at my bedroom door.

"You know this film Jody's making, you do know it's gonna be on TV right?" Tyler said.

"And?"

"It'll get this place known, it'll get us all fostered!" Tyler exclaimed and I groaned, pushing him from my room and following him and the other kids down to the utility room, Tyler knocking and stepping in.

"Jody" Tyler said and they both appeared out of the room.

"Can I be in your film please?" Floss asked.

"Yeah, I've got some stuff as well now I think about it" Rick said.

"Me too! I've got some really good stuff!" Harry said.

"What's going on?" Faith asked as she came into the room.

"Well, we thought about what you said and you're right, this is gonna be a really important film to make" Carmen said and Jody grinned.

"Alright. Put your name on the sign-up sheet and I'll set the camera up" Jody said, handing Floss a pen and we all went to scribble our names down.

"Ahh, I see. Now you know it's gonna be on telly, you want in on the action too" Carmen said when Mike and May-Li walked over.

"What did you say?" Mike said, sounding confused.

"Well, it's gonna be a fly on the wall kind of thing and you never know, we might be famous" Carmen grinned.

"Who told you that?" Mike asked.

"Harry" Carmen said and Harry nodded.

"Well, everyone kinda heard Tyler telling Harry but" Carmen shrugged.

"Tyler told me himself" I shrugged.

"And who told Tyler?" Mike asked.

"I dunno" Carmen shrugged.

"Well, I signed the paperwork on this and this film is being made to help train social workers, it has nothing at all to do with TV, I'm sorry" Mike said.

"But why would Tyler?" Carmen said then we all came to the same realisation, following Carmen into the utility room.

"Playing games with us, Jody?" Carmen snapped.

"No?"

"So we're really gonna be on TV, are we or is that just something you said so you could get your interviews?" Carmen spat, grabbing the camera.

"Give that back!" Jody yelled.

"Jody, you shouldn't have misled people" Mike said.

"I just wanted to finish something for once, do a good job for Sasha. No one cared about that" Jody said, storming out of the room.

"Oh, crocodile tears" Carmen rolled her eyes.

"Her heart was in the right place, Carmen. Come on, give her a break eh?" May-Li said.

"Alright guys, this needs fixing please" Mike said.

"What is wrong with you lot? Can't you see she's just acting like Miss Big Boots cos Sasha gave her the camera to play with!" Carmen says.

"Sounds like you're jealous that it wasn't you" I said, crossing my arms.

"No, it really matters to her" Tyler said.

"We need to fix this, come on" I said, walking out.

_**15 minutes later..**_

"So where's our director?" Sasha asked as Mike let her in.

"She's just coming" Faith said, all of us gathering in the hall.

"Erm, she just had some last minute stuff to do" Tyler said.

"Oh, perfectionist! Excellent, I can't wait to see the film" Sasha said, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, why don't we have a chat in the office?" Mike said to Sasha.

Jody came down soon after with Mo and plugged his camera into the TV and I sat down to watch, seeing the conversation we'd had yesterday about socialworkers and I realised Mo had been sneakily filming on his camera.

"This is so embarrassing, Johnny" I laughed when Johnny making a sandwich came on screen.

"It was actually really nice!" Tee laughed.

"Well done!" Mike said and we all clapped.

"It's just brilliant" Sasha said.

"Mo filmed it" Jody said.

"Yeah, obviously but you told him to, right? For the film?" Johnny said.

"Jody, I'm so impressed. Getting Mo to be a hidden camera like that, you've managed to catch everybody off guard, thats exactly what I wanted. I mean, the film quality is not brilliant but I actually think that adds to the authenticity" Sasha said.

"It wasn't my idea, I didn't have anything to do with it. Mo got it all on his own, I didn't even know. I didn't get anything, right? I'm just a phony" Jody said, running from the room.

"I'll go? If thats okay?" Sasha said, getting up.

"Yeah, sure" Mike said as Mo put the film back on so we could watch it in full.

_**5 minutes later..**_

"Is this Jody? Sasha has to see this" I said.

"I'll shout her" Faith said, going to the bottom of the stairs.

"Sasha! Sasha! You have to come and see this!" She yelled.

"Come on Sasha! Bring Jody!" Tyler yelled when Sasha didn't come right away.

"Okay Jody, you've gotta see this. Is it ready, Mo?" Tee said when Sasha and Jody joined us.

"Yep" Mo said, stopping it from rewinding when Jody was shouting about the importance of her film.

"'You know what she should be asking but she's not going to? What it's like to be a kid who's mum's just died or their dad's hooked on drugs and isn't safe to live at home anymore or their mum's in jail and theres no one left to look after them? Is she gonna ask them what it's like to be dumped in a house full of strangers when ten days ago, you thought you had a family? Realising you're not normal anymore 'cos you're that care kid and it's always gonna be like that dream at school where you've turned up at school in your undies and everyone is staring and it's just you. Gonna ask 'em about that? Yeah right, course she will.'" Jody's voice came through the TV and I bit my lip for being slightly horrible and we all clapped.

"Thats gotta be in the film, right?" Johnny said.

"Oh, you're not gonna get an argument from me. As long as you don't mind, Jody?" Sasha said.

"Yeah, why not? There's always airbrushing, right?" She shrugged.

"Exactly" Tee grinned.

"Right. Now, it's time for the bloopers" Tyler said and Jody and Tee came to sit down so we could watch all the clips of us that Mo had secretly recorded.

I let out a groan when there was a clip of me dancing around my room and everyone laughed, Rick poking my ribs.


	4. 24: The Barbecue

**Ella's PoV:**

"Oh hey, Lils. I didn't know you were coming" I said as I walked into the kitchen to find Lily and Mike having a chat.

"Yeah, just thought i'd come visit. My dad got a new camera so I wanted to try it out" Lily said.

"Oh, thats cool" I said.

"Everyone is outside if you're wanting photos?" I said.

"Yeah, let's go. Uh, have you seen Carmen though?" Lily asked as we headed outside.

"She's out here somewhere, picking potatoes or something" I shrugged as we headed to where everyone was playing football and we headed over to where Tee was stood watching.

"Point that camera at me and you're dead" Bailey threatened Lily and I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms.

"Is that a Man-U shirt hes got on?" Lily laughed.

"Yeah, he has to wear it all morning 'cos he lost a bet" Johnny laughed.

"Yeah, he was knocking rugby players. May-Li bet him that he couldn't score three penalties with a rugby ball" Rick explained.

"He scored none" Johnny added and I let out a laugh, having not witnessed this.

"Bailey!" Lily sang, snapping a photo of him.

"Stop!" He shouted and I wrapped my arms around Floss' shoulders.

"Does anyone know anything about a barbecue?" Tee asked and I turned, noticing that the bbq was out of the shed.

"She does. Look at her face. You know something" Tee said to Lily.

"No, no" Lily said, shaking her head and I laughed., knowing she was clearly lying.

"Take a picture of me, Lily! Me versus Bailey!" Jody shouted.

"Don't you dare!" Bailey snapped, pushing Jody away by her head.

"Bailey in a Man-U shirt, there's one for Frank" Lily laughed and Bailey booted the ball at her, knocking the camera from her hand into a box of water.

"Bailey!" I snapped and we all headed inside to tell Mike what had happened.

"Hes still paying for smashing the telly" Johnny said.

"I'm sure it was an accident" Mike said and Tee and I let out a loud scoff.

"Something to say, Tee? Ella?" Bailey said, tossing the football between his hands.

"I'll say it. He kicked the ball right at her" Johnny told Mike.

"Yeah, there was no accident about it" I said, giving him a dirty look.

"Grass" Bailey said.

"It's not grassing, it's just true" Johnny shrugged.

"Excuse me, what have I told you about having that ball indoors huh?" Mike said and we all sniggered.

"Yeah, take his side" Bailey said.

"Thats the rules" Mike said and Bailey walked off.

"Maybe you can take pictures on your phone if it's bust?" Faith offered.

"Was it switched off when it went in the water?" Rick asked.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was" Lily nodded.

"It might be alright then. Just don't turn it on until it's properly dried out" Rick said, putting it into a bowl of rice.

"Hey! My rice!" May-Li exclaimed.

"It soaks all the water up" Rick explained.

"Camera fried rice" Harry grinned as Mo and Carmen came inside.

"Weird spud! Weird spud!" Mo shouted.

"Carmen, in here, please!" May-Li said to Carmen and she came back into the kitchen.

"What?"

"Carmen, when you are given a chore, you do it" May-Li scolded.

"Mo wanted to help!" Carmen said.

"We were digging for gold" Mo grinned.

"Shut up" Carmen hissed.

"Gold?" May-Li asked.

"There's always gold under one potato in every new crop" Mo explained as Lily wiped mud off Carmen's face and we all chuckled.

"Carmen said so!" Mo added.

"It wasn't even my turn to do the vegetables. It was meant to be Faith's turn" Carmen snapped.

"Oh, sorry for getting run over!" Faith said, sarcasm in her voice and we all laughed.

"You know what? You can make good chips out of this, all sliced up" Tyler said, taking Mo's potato.

"No! What's he ever done to you?" Mo said, taking it back off him and walking off.

"Uh Lily, would you mind going out and helping Carmen with the veg, please?" Mike asked.

"I'm trying to get her to take some responsibility!" May-Li exclaimed.

"Come on, Carmen" Lily said, leading Carmen out to the garden.

"Um come here folks, gather round. I've got something to tell you" Mike said when the girls had gone outside.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Lily is going to be moving down south today. Her dad now owns a cafe with Shannay down there and this is her last day" Mike explained.

"How far away?"

"Quite far away but I'm sure she'll come visit" Mike explained.

"Aww, thats good for her" I said.

"She'll like it, she always wanted to be a cook" Tee said,.

"I've got a card, you should all sign it" Mike said as Bailey came back downstairs.

"No Man-U top Bailey?" Rick asked.

"The bet was to wear it all morning. He's only missed it by an hour" May-Li said.

"Missed his penalties by a mile though" Johnny grinned.

"Why don't you come and sign Lily's goodbye card?" Mike asked Bailey.

"Yeah, thats one less person on my back" Bailey said.

"You know what? I think I'll tell her you said that. That way she'll definitely put that picture of you on the internet or maybe I will" Johnny said,

"Yeah?" Bailey said and went to grab the memory card from Lily's camera.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"You can forget nicking that" Johnny scoffed.

"Call the police" Bailey smirked.

"It belongs to Lily" Johnny snapped, standing up.

"And?" Bailey said and Mike stood up, pushing the two apart.

"Now. Thats enough. Give me that,, please. Now!" Mike said, taking the memory card from Bailey.

"if you can't get yourself in a better frame of mind, Bailey, you might as well stay away from Lily's barbecue." Mike said.

"This is not how she'd want to remember us, is it? Hm, sit down" Mike asked Johnny and he took his seat.

"Not that she would want to remember him anyway" Johnny muttered.

"Thats not helping" Mike said.

"Ella, could you help me with the washing up?" May-Li asked and I nodded, finishing off my message in Lily's card before going to the sink and starting to wash up, the other kids starting to disperse.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"BAILEY!" Johnny hollered and I dropped the tea towel, rushing into the hall after May-Li.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, steady!" Mike said, stopping Johnny on the bottom step.

"I'm gonna kill him!" He shouted as Bailey stepped into the house.

"What's happened?" Mike asked.

"It was him, smashed my window!" Johnny shouted, trying to get to him.

"No, I didn't. Mike, have you seen my ball?" Bailey asked.

"Can you believe him?" Johnny yelled.

"It was in the garden and now it's gone. Have you confiscated it?" Bailey asked.

"No, I haven't" Mike said.

"You know exactly where your ball is. Now my rooms covered in glass, thanks to you" Johnny spat.

"I haven't done anything!"

"I saw you!"

"Saw me what?!" Bailey snapped.

"Kick the ball right at my window"

"No, you didn't"

"You calling me a liar?" Johnny argued.,

"Thats enough!" May-Li snapped.

"Yeah, you are" Bailey said and Johnny went for him.

"I said enough!" May-Li shouted as Mike restrained Johnny.

"In the office now please, Johnny, thank you very much!" Mike said, shoving Johnny into the office.

"Go to your room!"

"I haven't done nothin!" Bailey snapped.

"We'll talk to you later" May-Li said.

"I know what I saw" Johnny snapped and I stepped into the living room.

"What was that about?" Tyler asked.

"Bailey's smashed Johnny's window" I said, turning the TV on.

_**30 minutes later..**_

"Can you all come help me sort out for the barbecue?" May-Li said and we all went into the kitchen.

"Do you think they'll make Bailey pay for smashing the window?" Jody asked.

"With what? He'll be forking out for months for the the telly and then there's Lily's Dad's camera" Faith explained.

"Yeah but the camera should be alright" Rick said.

"He should have to, regardless" I said.

"Poor Lily, what a first day, eh?" Tee sighed.

"Didn't they get sausages?" Mo asked.

"May-Li said they're in the fridge" Harry said.

"No" Mo said.

"We'll just have to eat more potatoes then so give them here" Tyler said, taking Mo's potato from him.

"Hey!" Mo whined.

"I'm only joking" Tyler said.

"Give over winding him up, Tyler, for everyone's sanity" I smiled, guiding Mo away from the fridge and I looked into it, finding the sausages.

The doorbell rang as Carmen stepped into the house from the garden and Mo ran to the door as I shut the fridge.

"There you are! You need to sign Lily's card" Jody exclaimed.

"Do I?" She asked and everything went quiet.

"The police are here!" Mo shouted and I frowned, coming to stand beside Johnny as Mike led them into the kitchen as Bailey was in here.

"Can we deal with this internally?" May-Li asked.

"Not if something has been reported to us" The officer said.

"By who?" Bailey asked.

"Not the insurance company, surely?" Mike asked.

"No. We're not saying you're guilty of anything, it's procedure and we have to follow it." The officer said.

"Did you do this?" Tee asked Johnny quietly and I tuned the officers out.

"He thinks he can get away with whatever he wants" Johnny said.

"I never smashed no window" Bailey hissed.

"Then there's nothing for you to worry about but you need to tell us that in the interview"

"Yeah but they can't make him go, can they?" Carmen asked.

"We have to let the police officers do their job" Mike said.

"If anyone saw anything that will help prove either Bailey was or wasn't involved in this offence, you'll need to tell us. Okay?" The officer said, addressing us all.

"You should be grateful no one called the police when you used to kick off" Tee said.

"What? Was it you? Was it you who called them, Johnny?" Bailey asked Johnny.

"Yep!" Johnny said and I took a step back as Bailey flew at him, Mike just stopping him.

"I never smashed your window!" Bailey screamed.

"Oh and I suppose you never broke Lily's camera either? Or the telly?" Johnny said, getting up in Bailey's face as Mike stopped the police from intervening.

"Let's keep things calm boys, please" Mike said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you so tough" Bailey said to the officers.

"Bailey Wharton, I'm arresting you on suspicion of causing criminal damage. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention, when questioned, something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given as evidence" The officer said before leading Bailey out of the house.

"Right, come on. Let's get this lot sorted and get on with our barbecue, eh?" Mike said as Carmen and Floss disappeared and we all finished preparing the food.

_**An hour later..**_

We all headed out with the food and I took a seat on the bench, waiting for Rick to cook my burger.

"How longs it gonna be, Rick?" I asked, grinning at him cheekily.

"I've only just put it on!" He said, chucking a cherry tomato at me and Harry cheered when I caught it in my mouth.

"Faith, Ella, give us a grin" Lily said, coming over and we gave her our best smiles as she took our photo.

"Take one of me, Lily" Jody shouted.

"Go get the ball, Johnny" Lily instructed.

"Nah, hang on a sec. If you want one of Jody, I'll go get the biscuit tin" Johnny grinned.

"Haha, so funny. Go get the ball" Lily said, laughing sarcastically and she ran over, about to get the ball when Bailey appeared, putting his foot on the ball and I sighed.

"Making a nature documentary? Shrimps in the wild?" Bailey asked Lily.

"How come you're back?" Johnny asked.

"Bailed, pending further enquiries. They've got nothing on me" Bailey said.

"Yet" Johnny muttered and I stood up, coming to stand beside him just in case they went to fight.

"They said I should just admit it, get off with a caution but why would I when I didn't do it?" Bailey asked.

"Johnny saw you" Tee said.

"You sure about that? 'cos he couldn't have saw what never happened" Bailey said, walking off with the ball.

"You did see him, didn't you, actually kick the ball?" Jody asked.

"You saw the state of my room" Johnny said.

"If you were at the window when you saw him kick it then surely you would have got hit?" Tee asked.

"Oi, Lily, over here!" Bailey shouted.

"What did you actually see?" Jody asked as Johnny went and sat down,

"Johnny?" Tee said as he took a sip of his drink to try avoid the question.

"You might as well just tell us, Johnny" I said.

"Ella, your burgers ready!" Rick shouted and I sighed, heading over to the barbecue.

"Thank you, head chef" I grinned as he handed it to me.

"Welcome" He said and I made my way over to a rug, sitting down so I could eat in peace, smiling at Lily as she stormed past.

_**10 minutes later..**_

Lily came over after she'd spoken to Floss and sat beside me with a sigh.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"It was Carmen who smashed the window 'cos she's upset that I'm leaving and Floss saw, getting her to give her the bracelet I got for Carmen and now she's at the police station handing herself in" Lily explained, showing me the dog charm bracelet.

"Looks like shadow" I said.

"Yeah, thats why I got it." Lily nodded.

"This hasn't been the best going away party for you, has it?" I said.

"Nope, not really" She sighed and I pulled out my phone.

"Selfie?" I asked and she smiled, the two of us pouting for the photo.

"Tee! Come get in this!" Lily called and Tee ducked behind us both, pouting at the camera as well.

"I'll send them to you both" I smiled, quickly sending the photos to them.

"Hey Lils, listen. If you ever need me, you know what number to call" I said, giving her a soft smile and she gave me a hug before getting up.,

"Don't go" Mo said when he noticed.

"This is from everyone" Tyler said, handing her card to her.

"Everyone?" Lily asked and I walked over.

"Well, Carmen didn't get a chance to see it before erm, you know, before" Tee explained.

"I'll open it later then" Lily said.

"Everyone, let's go get a last shot, yeah?" Lily said, hiding her tears.

"Come on" I said and we all gathered around Faith on the bench.

"We'll have to get a picture of Mike and text it to you, yeah?" Tee said,

"And Frank when he shows up" Rick added.

"Yeah and Carmen" Johnny said.

"Okay, I er wanna see your funniest faces" Lily said.

"Funny faces yeah?" Tee confirmed.

"Yeah. One, two, three, cheese!" Lily grinned and we all pulled silly faces as she took the photo.

We all then followed her inside and gave her hugs before she went out to the car as her dad was waiting.

"Hey, thats supposed to be Mike's" Tee said as Bailey grabbed the burger from the side.

"Tell you what, I won't touch it and later on, you can all accuse me of eating it" Bailey said.

"Where's Lily?" Carmen asked as she ran in.

"I got arrested because of you" Bailey said and Mo, Johnny and I got up and went over in case he started on her too.

"Carmen, she had to go" Tee said.

"She couldn't wait any longer" Jody added.

"Yeah, she said she was sorry for how things were" Rick said and I gave Bailey a glare as he backed off Carmen.

"Carmen, you could have Mike's burger" Tyler said.

"Hey, guess what?" Mike said as he walked in with Lily following behind.

"I forgot my dad's camera, he would go absolutely crazy" Lily said, stopping when she saw Carmen.

"Right everyone, outside. I'm sure Lily wants to take another photo now everyone's here" May-Li said to get us out of the kitchen whilst Carmen and Lily talked and we all headed out into the garden again.

"Come back up the garden, come on!" Mike called as Lily and Carmen joined us.

"Gather round at the top there, please" Mike instructed and we all stood in front of the garage.

"We just need Lily, Where is Lily?" Carmen said as we were ready for the photo.

"I'm here! Thank you" Lily said, squishing into the middle.

"One, two, three. Lily!" Mike said.,

"Lily!" We all cheered, grinning at the camera and Tee took it from Mike and we all moved so Lily could have photos with Carmen.

"Right" Lily said and we all went round to the front of the house to see her off.

"Bye Lily!" We chorused and I waved as her car drove off and the window repairmen came.

"Well, at least we get a crime number. The insurance will cover it now" Mike said.

"Every cloud has a silver lining" I laughed, patting his back, joining the others on the wall as we watched Carmen walk around sadly.

"Is she crying?" Jody asked.

"i think it's probably best if we leave her alone for a bit" Tee said, only for Jody to get up and head over.

"Or not" She said, rolling her eyes and we all watched as a stone Carmen had just kicked flew over to the new window.

"Not again!" We all said, getting up and rushing over, Jody diving in front of the window and catching the stone just before it hit.

"Whoa! That was so good!" We all cheered and I offered Carmen my hand, leading the way inside.

"I'm going to do the veg" She mumbled, heading outside and I glanced at everyone.

"Reckon we should help?" I said and they nodded, all of us heading down the the vegetable patch where Carmen was picking potatoes.

"Heya" I smiled, crouching beside her and the others and chatting away whilst we dug up potatoes and she gave us all a smile.


	5. 25: Finding Frank

**Ella's PoV:**

"Hey Ella, we're going to see Frank. Do you wanna come?" Faith asked and I nodded, shrugging my leather jacket on before hurrying downstairs after her.

"Does Frank know we're coming?" I asked as Rick, Faith, Carmen and I made our way to Frank's flat.

"I text him but he never replied." Faith said.

"I'm worried about him" Carmen said.

"You know what Frank's like, he'll be living it up" I said, giving her a reassuring grin.

"Best give him a ring though, let him know we're heading over" I added and Carmen pulled her phone out, dialling Frank's number.

"No answer" Carmen declared and I sighed, continuing on our way.

We stepped into the yard of Frank's flat and Faith pressed Frank's buzzer and Carmen rang him again.

"Frank!" Faith yelled, banging on the door as we'd been waiting for him to answer for ages.

"Frank, it's Faith!" She shouted.

"Can we just leave, please? He's not even in" Rick sighed.

"Or he's avoiding us" Faith said.

"Frank! Frank, are you in there?" She shouted and I let out a sigh.

"It's still going straight through to voicemail" Carmen said.

"I ain't doing this" Rick sighed, pushing off the wall.

"When was the last time you even saw him?" Rick asked.

"Two, three weeks ago, maybe more" Faith said.

"I haven't seen him since before we filmed that thing for the social workers" I said.

"Hang on, wait. Isn't that Frank's flat?" Rick asked.

"Suppose so" Faith shrugged and Rick went up the fire escape to peer inside.

"Rick!" Carmen called after him.

"The flats empty, no one's there" Rick said as he came back down to join us.

"He can't have moved out, he would've told us" Carmen said.

"Are you sure you got the right flat?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, definitely" Rick said and I came to a stop when I saw a guy with his dog stood there.

"Alright?" Rick said as he walked over, stopping his dog from getting too close.

"Do you know Frank Matthews?" He asked and I shared a look with Carmen who clutched my hand in hers.

"Who's asking?" Rick asked.

"When you see him, tell him I want my money" He said.

"What money? Where is he?" Faith asked.

"That's what I'd like to know! What?!" He snapped as he spotted Carmen staring at him.

"Where'd you get that chain?" Rick asked and the boy just smirked, pulling his dog away and walking off.

"Frank's in trouble" Carmen said and I nodded.

"Come on, we need to go tell Mike" I said and we all rushed back to the dumping ground.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"What's this?" Mike said when we blurted out what had happened.

"Frank's gone missing. He's not at his flat and it doesn't look like anyone's been there for a while" I said.

"He won't answer our texts or calls, it just goes through to voicemail" Carmen added.

"Okay, I'm gonna contact the social, go wait in the lounge" Mike said and the four of us headed into the lounge, telling the others what had happened.

Mike walked in after a long twenty minutes of waiting and we all crowded round him.

"Have you spoken to the social worker?" Faith asked.

"Have you found him yet?"

"Alright, can we all calm down please?" Mike said, shutting us all up.

"Apparently Frank hasn't been in college. He's also missed the last couple of appointments with his support worker" Mike explained.

"When did she last see him?" Faith asked.

"Two weeks ago. We've spoken to the police, we've filed a missing person report. Now, we need to gather as much information as we can" Mike explained.

"Who saw Frank last?" Mike asked.

"Me but that was weeks ago" Faith said.

"What about Jade?" Mike asked, referring to Frank's girlfriend.

"I texted her. She said she hasn't seen him since they broke up" Carmen explained.

"They broke up?" Mike asked.

"Mhm and then she saw him in town with another girl" Carmen finished.

"What girl?"

"She didn't know but she did say she looked a bit, uhm, dodgy" Carmen explained.

"Alright. Well, you need to tell the police all this. They'll probably want to speak to Jade as well. Come on" Mike said to Carmen.

"Look, don't worry, we'll find him" Mike said, leading Carmen into the office.

"Let's hope so" I sighed, sitting on the couch next to Tee and Faith.

"They will find him, won't they?" Tee asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." I said, squeezing her knee.

_**5 minutes later..**_

Carmen walked back in and flopped on the sofa next to me.

"I told them what Jade said and they said they're gonna speak to her and find out more" Carmen said.

"It'll be alright. Mike will find him" Johnny said.

"Maybe he doesn't wanna be found" Bailey piped up.

"What are you talking about?" Tee said.

"I know you hate to see anyone go but give Frank a break! The man's eighteen. Maybe he just wants to move on" Bailey said.

"Then he should tell us that and let us know he's okay" Tee said.

"Why should he?" Bailey asked.

"Cos he's our mate" Tyler argued.

"Mates come and go. It's not like he's your brother" Bailey said.

"Yeah, it is" Carmen said.

"We're like the only family he's got" Johnny said.

"I know family and trust me, you guys are not family" Bailey said, shaking his head.

"You really wanna shut up now!" Faith spat.

"You don't even know Frank, you've been here what? Two months. Just shut up" I spat.

"If you love Frank so much, why aren't you out looking for him?" Bailey asked.

"Right. Come on, we need to make some flyers" I said, getting up and we all crowded around the computer as Rick messed around on Photoshop, creating one.

"Right. Faith, Johnny, Jody, Tyler; yous go around his college and hand them out there and Tee, Carmen, Rick, Bailey and I will go to the park and the high street" I said, handing everyone a pile of flyers.

"Who put you in charge?" Bailey asked.

"Who cares who's in charge?" I said, stuffing a pile of flyers into his arms.

"Why do I have to go with you?" He asked.

"So I can keep an eye on you. Now, move it" I said as we all left the house.

"Watch Tee for me" Johnny said as we headed down the street.

"I will do" I smiled, patting his back before hurrying off to catch up with Tee.

"I'm really worried" Tee said.

"Don't be, babe. He'll be fine, we'll find him" I said and we all hurried over to the nearby park as the others got on a bus.

"Split up and hand as many of these out" I said, heading over to a group of teenage girls.

"Hey guys, I was just wondering if you've seen this boy? He's gone missing and we need to find him" I said, showing them the flyer.

"No, sorry" They all mumbled.

"Alright, well could you keep this and just keep your eye out? Give us a ring if you see him, thank you!" I said, handing each of them a flyer a flyer before running over to another kid.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Thats everyone, let's head into town. He'll have been there at some point" I said and we all jumped on a bus, heading into the town centre.

"We should split up" Rick said as we got off the bus.

"Alright. Carmen and I will do the train station and around there, you guys do the main shops?" I said and Rick nodded.

"Come on then" I said, Carmen and I hurrying off to the train station, handing out flyers as we did so.

"What if we don't find him?" Carmen asked.

"Thank you!" I called to a woman.

"Then we let the police found him. At least we've done something to help" I said and she nodded.

_**20 minutes later..**_

"Come on, let's go meet the others" I said.

**To: Ella**

**Outside the antique shop, we're all out of flyers **

**To: Rick**

**Heading there now **

"Hello?" Carmen said, answering her phone as we walked over to the others, spotting them from down the street due to Rick's bright jacket.

"But we've only got three flyers left"

"How'd you get on at college?" Carmen asked and I knew it was Faith on the other end.

"Right. Well, let us know. Bye" She said, hanging up as we reached the others.

"It's still early days, ain't it? Come on, let's go" Rick sighed.

"What?" Rick asked, noticing Tee's look.

"Thats Frank's watch" Tee said.

"It can't be" Carmen said as we all looked into the window.

"Surely he wouldn't sell it again, not after the trouble we had last time" I sighed.

"Let's go in and ask" Rick said and we entered the shop.

"Morning!" I said, heading over to the counter with Carmen and Rick.

"Morning. How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you knew who sold the pocket watch in the window?" I asked.

"Which one?"

"It's on your display, the gold one in the middle" I said as the man went to get it before laying it down on the counter.

"Thats the one" I said.

"I don't know who sold it, I wasn't on that day. Are you buying it or what?" The man asked.

"Yes! But we don't have any cash on us at the moment so can you just keep it for us?" Carmen asked.

"Can't do that. Cash only. First come, first served. I've other customers interested" The man explained and I groaned.

"Have you? Who?" Rick asked.

"Girl who was in before. She said she'll be back" The man said and I sighed, motioning for the others to follow.

"You two stay in here, Bailey, Tee and I will stand outside" I said, the two younger ones following me outside as Rick and Carmen pretended to look around.

_**5 minutes later..**_

I nudged Tee as a girl stepped into the shop and I peered through the window, watching her head up to the counter.

"She's lying!" I heard Carmen shout as Rick stepped out of the shop in time to stop the girl from running off.

"She tried saying it was her watch" Carmen said, standing in the shop doorway.

"Look, we just wanna talk to you" Rick said.

"No English" She said, shaking her head.

"Thats funny because you seemed to speak perfect English in the shop" Carmen said.

"Yeah. Have you seen this boy?" Rick asked, showing her Frank's photo.

"No understand"

"Oh, pack the act in. You're not fooling anyone" I sighed.

"Course not 'cos you definitely have" Rick said, lifting his phone up and taking a photo of her.

"No photo!" She shouted.

"Look. If you're not going to tell us, we'll ask around" Rick said.

"Yeah, maybe the police will know" Carmen added.

"No photo. No police" She said, collapsing into Rick who laid her on the floor and we all crowded around her.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked her.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting up.

"I think you just fainted" Carmen said as Rick helped the girl up, only for her to push him over and run off.

"Rick!" Carmen said and she and Bailey pulled him up onto his feet.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine. It's fine. I've got a photo of her face on my phone" Rick said, going to grab it so see it was missing.

"Yeah, she's good" Rick said and we all sighed, setting off as Carmen rang Faith.

"Hey Faith. Oh, thats good" Carmen said into the phone.

"Have they found him?" Tee asked.

"Alright, just let us know if you hear anything else okay?" Carmen said.

"Alright, bye" She added, hanging up.

"Someone recognised him outside a chip shop, crashing into some man" Carmen said.

"Right, so he's working the old burger dive again" Rick confirmed.

"Burger dive?" Bailey asked.

"We should check out the van in Queen's Park, that was his best pitch" Tee said.

"He must be desperate, he hasn't done a burger dive in years" Carmen said, shaking her head.

"What's the burger dive?" Bailey asked again.

"You take half empty trays of food from takeaways out of the bin and crash into some unsuspecting rich looking person and they feel bad and give you money for a new one. Works extremely well for Frank" I explained as we headed over to the park.

"Sick!" Bailey exclaimed.

"Don't even try it, Mike will be all over you like a rash if he finds out" I said.

"Thats gotta be him, come on!" Tee said as we got to the park, spotting Frank doing a burger dive.

"No, wait!" Rick said as he spotted the girl from the antique shop.

"They're working together now? Come on" Carmen said and we all rushed over.

"Hello again. Don't make a scene, just pass it over" Rick said, stopping the girl from nicking from a woman's bag as she helped Frank.

"Good choice" Rick said as he snatched it back, tapping the man on the back.

"Excuse me, sir. I think you dropped this" Rick said, handing his wallet back.

"Oh, he's good, aren't you mate? Come on, Frank, get up. He's fine, honestly. Sorry about that as well" Rick said as he pulled Frank up and the people dispersed.

"Frank, where have you been?" Carmen asked.

"I've been, I've been around. Look, I'm okay"

"No you're not" Tee said.

"We're leaving now. If you try to stop us, I will scream" The girl threatened.

"If you're leaving then we're coming with you" Carmen said.

"Look, these are my friends, I can explain" Frank said to the girl.

"Yeah, you can!" Carmen snapped.

"Alright. Come" The girl said and we all surged forward.

"Not all of you"

"Alright. Just me, Carmen and Els, yeah? Is that cool?" Rick said and she nodded, setting off.

"You two head back, tell everyone that we've found him and we're trying to get him to come back. We'll see you back at home" I said to Tee and Bailey.

"Okay" Tee said.

"Go straight home." I said, warning Bailey and he nodded, leaving me to run to catch up with Carmen and Rick.

"I've sent them home, they're gonna tell the others" I said as Frank and the girl led us to some tunnel where they were staying.

"She looks after the place when we're not here" Frank explained when the girl thanked some woman.

"You've been living here? Frank, you've got a flat!" Carmen said.

"Carmen, I can't go back there" Frank snapped.

"What? Because you owe money?" Rick asked.

"Frank, this place.. It's not exactly safe" I said, shaking my head.

"He played cards with bad people. First he won then he lost. A lot." The girl explained.

"How much did you lose?" Carmen asked.

"Everything" Frank said and I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

"Not everything. Take it. It's a gift" The girl said, holding out his watch.

"I can't believe you did that" Frank said, hugging her.

"Neither can I. Why do you care so much about Frank?" Carmen said.

"I was sleeping in shop doorway. Frank would give me food. We would talk and then he came to me, in trouble. I had to help" The girl explained.

"By stealing?" Rick said.

"We don't steal" Frank defended.

"She does. She picks people's pockets when they're trying to help you" Carmen said.

"Yeah, sorry mate, we all saw her" Rick added.

"You trick people for food. I steal their money. It's the same thing"

"No, it's not! I'm not a thief!" Frank snapped.

"But if you had to choose? Steal or starve?"

"Did you have to choose?" Rick asked and she shrugged.

"You can't live like this" Carmen said.

"It's okay. I'm going to win my money back" Frank said.

"How?" Rick asked.

"Frank, you can't win with people like that" I said.

"Cards" He declared.

"You can't bet on another card game" Carmen said.

"This one's different"

"Thats why you sold your watch? Buy-in money for the game?" Rick asked.

"I will win my money back. Then I'll stop" Frank said.

"Give me the watch" The girl said.

"You said it was a gift" Frank said.

"Not for you to lose at cards! I'll keep it safe for you"

"Fine" He said, handing it to her.

"Frank, please don't do this" Carmen begged.

"I'll be alright. Leave me alone" Frank snapped, walking off and Rick went after him.

"What's your name again?" I asked the girl.

"Kazima"

"Can you please just tell him to come back to the Dumping Ground?" Carmen asked.

"Dumping Ground?" Kazima asked.

"Yeah, it's our home. It's a lot better than it sounds, trust me" Carmen said.

"Come on Carm, let's head back. Rick's with Frank, it'll be alright. Kazima, why don't you head over there?" I said and she nodded, hurrying off.

"Keep a tight hold on your bag" I said to Carmen as we headed back through the tunnel, knowing that they would do anything now Kazima and Frank weren't here.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"So what's happened?" Mike asked as we stepped into the house.

"We found him doing a burger dive. He's been living on the streets, Rick's with him now. He's trying to get him to come back here" I said, stepping into the lounge and flopping down.

We then had to explain everything that had gone on to the others and we all sat waiting for Rick to come back.

It was just under an hour before Rick returned and I shot up when I heard the door slam, Tyler running off to get the three younger ones.

"Never do that again, okay?" Faith said as she pulled Frank into a hug.

"Yeah" He smiled as Floss, Mo and Harry ambushed him and tackled him into a hug.

"The lucky bird poo worked!" Floss shouted.

"What?" Frank asked and I chuckled, shaking my head before giving Frank a quick hug, lifting Floss onto my hip as everyone else gave Frank a hug.

"Excuse me, you three. My sheets, let's go" May-Li said to the youngest kids and they let out simultaneous groans.

"Go on" I laughed, putting Floss down and heading up to Rick's room after the others, Jody and Tyler staying downstairs.

"So, tell us what happened" Faith said and Frank and Rick told us all the story of what happened once they'd headed to Frank's flat.

"Wait, so you gambled all your money? Again?" Johnny asked.

"It's not Frank's fault. He was scammed!" Tee defended.

"And now you want us to help you commit fraud?" Johnny asked, trying to get his head around what had been said.

"You say fraud, I say justice" Kazima said.

"Yeah. They took Frank's money, we take theirs" Tee added.

"Don't get involved" Johnny sighed.

"Too right. You don't know what you're getting into. These people could be well messed up" Bailey piped up.

"I don't know if we should trick them like this guys, we don't know what they're capable of" I said.

"We're not asking for anything even that risky. Just jewellery. Cheap jewellery that looks expensive" Rick explained.

"Like this, you mean?" Carmen asked, holding up one of her rings.

"This could work. So when do we do it?" Faith asked after examining the ring.

"We?" Frank asked.

"You're gonna need a girl to make this scam work. I'm the oldest and I've still got my crutches" Faith explained.

"I like how she's thinking" Rick said.

"I don't get it, why does she need her crutches?" Carmen asked.

"Because who's gonna suspect the poor lame girl?" Faith smirked, leaving the room.

"Alright. We'll cover for you guys with Mike, you better get going before it's too late" I said to Rick, Frank and Kazima.

"I'm going too" Johnny said, standing up.

"No, you're not. Sit down." I said, pushing back down onto his seat.

"Why not?"

"Because too many people will look suspicious" I said.

"Good luck" I said as Frank, Rick and Kazima left the room.

"See you later" Rick said.

We all headed downstairs into the kitchen to wait, Bailey disappearing after a while.

_**30 minutes later..**_

"Back soon!" Mike called and I frowned, wondering where he's going.

"Where's Bailey?" I asked as Jody and Tyler walked in.

"Dunno, haven't seen him since Frank came back" Jody shrugged.

"Reckon he told Mike?" Tee asked.

"He might have, they'll be going to pick them up, I imagine" Johnny said.

"They're in so much trouble" I sighed.

It wasn't long before I heard the front door shut.

"Frank, my office!. The rest of you, in there. You are in so much trouble!" Mike snapped and May-Li headed into the lounge.

"Uh oh" I muttered, hearing May-Li shout at the others after they'd explained themselves.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Kazima's gone" Frank said as he walked into the kitchen where we were all sat.

"Aww, sorry Frank" I said and he shrugged, flopping down next to Carmen and I.

"I'm not being funny Frank but you need to go have a shower" Carmen said.

"Yeah mate, you stink" Rick laughed.

"Okay, okay. I'm going" He grinned, heading upstairs.


	6. 26: Holding On

**Ella's PoV:**

I walked down the stairs to find Tyler hugging a woman who I presumed was his mother and I made my presence known when I hopped down the last step as I didn't want to shock anyone or look like I was interrupting.

"Oh, hello" The woman said.

"Hi, you must be Tyler's mum. I'm-"

"Let me guess" She said, interrupting me before I could say my name and I gave Tyler a smile when he looked slightly worried.

"Tyler's been sending me emails and my guess is, you're Ella!" She grinned.

"Thats me, how did you know?" I asked.

"He said you were the one who kept him in check, you look like the protective, mothering type" She explained.

"Oh right. Thanks Tyler" I smiled and he shrugged.

"I'll let you two get on, it was nice to meet you Mrs Lewis" I smiled.

"Call me, Sally. It was nice to meet you too" She called and I smiled, heading over to Mike.

"Go on you, the others are outside" He said.

"I'm going, old man" I grinned.

"Cheeky!" He called after me and I laughed as I stepped outside.

"Tyler's mums here" I said as I sat beside Tee on the bench.

"Is she nice?" Tee asked.

"She seems lovely" I said as the ball hit Carmen on the back of the head.

"Who was that?" She shouted.

"Me. Sorry!" Frank said.

"Frank, that ball comes anywhere near me again and I swear, I'll put a fork in it!" Carmen snapped.

"Ooh!" Jody laughed, throwing the ball back.

"Guys! This is my mum!" Tyler announced, appearing at the top of the garden.

"Hello mum!" Johnny grinned.

"Hi!" She smiled as everyone gathered near the bench.

"Don't tell me. Tyler's talked about you all in his emails. Pink and fluffy, you must be Carmen" She said and I stifled a laugh.

"Pink and fluffy?" Carmen asked and Tyler gave her an embarrassed smile.

"The wannabe rockstar. I know a brooding face when I see one" She said, pointing to Rick and I laughed.

"Wannabe? Really?" Rick deadpanned.

"I'm Johnny"

"Really? You're nothing like Tyler described" Tyler's mum said.

"Why? What did he say?" Johnny asked.

"Thats all the introductions over. Shall we go back inside?" Tyler said, getting himself out of trouble.

"How about a game of something?" His mum asked.

"We've got a rounders bat in the shed" Bailey announced.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" She grinned.

"I'll get the bat" Jody said, hurrying off and we all organised ourselves into teams.

"There's finally even numbers" I said and Tee laughed, pointing at her eyes and then me with her two fingers and I winked at her as I took the bat and she got ready to throw the ball.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yep" I grinned and she threw the ball to me and I swung, running around and just making it to second base.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Hey Tyler, your mum's ace! Who thinks Tyler's mum should come here every week?" Rick shouted and we all cheered.

"Leave her alone" Tyler demanded.

"You what?" Rick said.

"Just 'cos your mum doesn't give a stuff about you, doesn't mean you can go steal mine" Tyler said, getting in Rick's face.

"Tyler?" His mum said, hurrying over.

"We're going" Tyler said, heading out of the garden and I rushed over to Rick, placing my hand on his arm in case he went after him.

"But we were gonna play another game" Faith said.

"But she's my mum and this is our day!" Tyler snapped.

"It was nice meeting you all" His mum said, hurrying after him.

"And you" Johnny muttered.

"Hey Rick, Tyler didn't mean it. He just wanted his mum to himself, you'd be the same" I said and Rick nodded.

"Yeah, suppose" He muttered.

"Wanna play another game? We still have even numbers" I asked everyone and we organised ourselves for another rounders match.

We were halfway through our game when Mike came out, demanding a house meeting and we all followed him inside.

"Mike, we were playing a game" Johnny said.

"This is more important" Mike said.

"Are we in trouble?" Floss asked.

"Yeah, you could say that"

"What've we done?" I asked.

"It wasn't me! It was Johnny!" Jody declared.

"What was?" Mike asked as I took a seat on the sofa.

"Whatever we're getting told off for?" Jody said and Johnny shoved her onto the sofa.

"How longs this gonna take though? Cos me, Tee and Ella have a spa day booked" Carmen asked as we all sat down.

"It would seem that I had a little intruder in my office earlier" Mike said, holding out a tupperware box that contained our snake inside.

"Rocky!" Mo exclaimed.

"Yes, someone left the lid off his cage and not for the first time" Mike said.

"Hang on, I thought his name was Mike?" Tee asked.

"We changed it" Harry said.

"Cos Mike wasn't tough enough" Floss explained and I chuckled.

"He's safe now though, isn't he?" Mo asked.

"Yeah but how far could he have gone, eh? I only agreed to let you keep him because you all promised that you'd take turns looking after him and yet, who is it that has to clean out his enclosure every month? Muggins here" Mike said.

"Cos he's so boring" Frank said.

"No, he's not!" Mo defended.

"All he does is lie in his cage all day" Frank added.

"Thats cos he's thinking" Mo explained.

"Yeah but at least Shadow could catch a ball" Johnny said, referring to Lily's dog which she'd taken down south.

"And go swimming" Carmen added.

"What can Rocky do?"

"He can do loads of things!" Mo said.

"Yeah, like what?" Bailey asked.

"I'm sorry, mate" Mike said and we all got up.

"Hey, hey, hey, I haven't finished yet. Sit down. Thank you" Mike said as we all sunk back into our seats.

"As from tomorrow morning, there will be a rota up above Rocky's cage. You are all going to have to take turns ensuring that he is fed and watered. Thank you" Mike announced.

"I can't do the-"

"No!"

"Mike, I've gotta go running in the morning!" Faith argued as they all walked off.

"I'm not doing it Mike, I didn't even want the stupid snake in the first place! They're horrible creatures, they give me the shivers" I said.

"Ella, you're doing it!" Mike called.

"No, I'm not. He'll have to starve on my day" I called after him.

I turned the TV on and settled into the sofa as Floss and Harry made the chart.

"Don't put me on it" I groaned as I watched Harry write my name.

"Mike said we have to put everyone on it." Floss said.

"Ella, wanna match?" Rick asked and I looked to see him stood by the pool table.

"Oh ha ha" I snarked as he knew how bad I was, heading over to watch them.

"So do you think Tyler will go live with his mum?" Frank asked as Floss put the chart up behind Rocky's cage.

"Just think it all depends on how it's going to go today, mate" Rick explained.

"But she's better now, isn't she?" Floss asked, standing beside me.

"It's not like a broken leg, Floss. Even though she might look alright, she might still be sick" Rick explained.

"Did you know that a milk snake can grow up to 175 centimetres long?" Mo asked.

"Boring!" Frank called.

"Well, how about this one? Oldest milk snake lived for twenty one years" Mo said.

"Thats nearly as old as Mike" Floss said and I chuckled.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Mo" Rick said.

"Sorry Mo, honey, but let's face it, that thing is boring and you're not gonna be able to change our minds" I said.

"Ella? Spa day, you coming?" Carmen asked and I nodded, heading upstairs after her and Tee.

"Pyjamas, dressing gown, towel" Tee said, handing me my things and I quickly changed, Tee and I squishing onto the spare bed in Carmen's room.

"It's a good job we're both skinny" I said as we got comfy, just for the bulb to go.

"Carmen, you go. We've just got settled" I said and she left the room.

Carmen and Mike soon returned, Mike carrying a ladder and he set it up, going to change the bulb.

"Do you really wanna be putting that muck on your faces?" Mike asked as we started to put face masks on.

"Yep, it is very high in Vitamin A" Carmen said.

"Oh really?"

"Yep and not only does it leave it exfoliate, it also leaves you with a very refreshing glow" Carmen explained.

"Well, in that case ladies, I will leave you alone" Mike said, bowing slightly.

"Oh wait, Mike, before you go. Could you please put this on the door?" Carmen asked, handing him a Do Not Disturb sign.

"Certainly madam. If you require any room service, please feel free to call the desk" He said, bowing once more.

"We will" Carmen nodded and he closed the door behind him, the three of us laying back.

"Okay so now what?" Tee asked.

"Now we kick back and relax" Carmen said and we placed the cucumber over our eyes.

"I'm sure these are supposed to have some sort of cream on thats good for your eyes. They're not just menna be cucumber" I said.

_**5 minutes later..**_

"How long are we supposed to lie like this?" Tee asked.

"Err, I dunno. Until we feel rejuvenated I guess" Carmen said.

"What does that even mean?" I huffed.

"Not sure"

"It's tickling my face" Carmen said and I took the cucumber off my eyes to look at her.

"Err no, Carm, there's something on your face" I said, seeing a massive insect.

"What is it?" She said, swatting it off and letting out a scream once she saw what it was.

"Tee, just get rid of it!" Carmen shouted as Tee crawled under the bed to grab it.

"Carmen, I'm trying!" Tee said.

"What is it?" Carmen asked and I looked down to see quite a few of them.

"Some sort of stick insect or something" Tee said, picking one up.

"Get that away from me, that is rank. Nowhere near me" Carmen cried.

"Yeah Tee, I'm gonna need you to keep that away from me as well" I said.

"What's going on?" Mike asked, bursting into the room.

"Mike, they're everywhere!" Carmen said as Mo joined him.

"What're you talking about?" He asked.

"Aah! Horrible stick insects! Can you please get it away from me, Tee?" Carmen cried.

"It's not a stick insect. It's a locust" Mo said, taking it from Tee and I let out a whine.

"A locust?" Mike asked.

"What did I tell you about going into people's rooms?" Mo said, scolding the insect.

"Mo. That box downstairs" Mike said.

"Thats where I've been keeping him and his friends"

"Friends? Roughly, how many friends does he have?" Mike asked.

"50, I think. I got them from the pet shop" Mo said.

"50. Right, where are the rest?" Mike asked.

"There's about ten on the floor here, you can get these first!" I squealed, hopping over to Carmen's bed when one crawled closer.

Mo quickly collected those before running off to find the others.

"I need to get this stuff off my face" I said, grabbing my things and heading into the bathroom.

I rubbed the face mask off and quickly changed before heading downstairs where Tyler, Johnny, Harry and Jody were with Mike, May-Li and Sally.

"For now, make yourself scarce. Go on" Mike said, ushering us all away and I followed Johnny into the lounge.

"Go out, you can't be in here whilst I set up. Make a queue outside" Mo demanded and I went into the kitchen, rolling my eyes.

"If this is to do with those stupid locusts or that god damn snake, I'm gonna go crazy" I sighed.

"What if it's a combination?" Johnny smirked.

"Then I'm gonna scream, right in your ear" I said, crossing my arms.

We were finally allowed in and we all took our seats.

"Do we really have to be here?" Carmen sighed.

"Yep. Mo's gone to a lot of trouble" Mike said.

"I've been training Rocky all morning" Mo explained.

"To do what?"

"To prove to you all that hes the most stupendous, extra, extra-"

"Extraordinary" May-Li said, finding his word for him.

"Snake in the entire world" Mo said.

"This better be good" Frank sighed.

"It's a snake, how good could it be?" I huffed.

"Floss, if you can get Rocky ready?" Mo asked and she curtseyed.

"Aww bless" I said.

"Oh sweetheart" Mike muttered.

"By using my special ingredient. Harry, if you'd be so kind" Mo said and Harry showed us all the locust and I cringed, scooting back in my seat.

"Rocky is now going to perform the most mind-boggling stunt you've ever seen. After three" Mo said.

"Do we have to do this?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah" Mike said and we all counted to three.

"Jump, Rocky, jump!" Mo said, only for Rocky to move a couple of millimetres.

"Maybe he has stage fright" Frank offered.

"Do it like we practised" Mo hissed to the snake.

"Think you're gonna need to try another stunt, Mo" Tee said.

"Don't encourage him!" Johnny whined.

"Rocky is now going to slide through the dark twisty tunnels before your very eyes. Prepare to be amazed!" Mo grinned.

"Look Rocky, it's a yummy locust. Your favourite!" Mo said.

"This is rubbish" Bailey said when the snake didn't do anything again.

"No, it's not. He just needs a bit more time" Mo said, grabbing a recorder and starting to play it.

"What is he doing?" Jody spat.

"I'm trying to charm him" Mo said as everyone got up to leave.

"Not with that racket, you're not" Johnny said.

"And get those locusts out of the house before I stamp on them all!" I said as I left the room.

"They're making me itchy" I whined to Carmen who shuddered.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"Dinner's ready!" Mike yelled and I stepped into the kitchen, taking my seat at the table.

"I'm starving!" Frank complained once most of us were seated and we were just waiting for our food to be served.

"Not everyone's here yet" May-Li said.

"I think I could faint, I'm so hungry" Carmen complained.

"Don't worry" Mike said.

"Sorry I'm late" Rick said, finally joining us.

"It's alright. Do you think I should plate up some food for Tyler and Sally?" Mike asked.

"No, no. They said they're not hungry" Rick said, placing the bread down as May-Li started handing out our plates.

"Thank you!" I grinned when mine was set in front of me, digging in.

"Shall I give him a call? See what the delay is?" Mike said, breaking the silence.

"You do that. I'll check in with Tyler then" May-Li said and Rick let out a groan.

"Rick?" Mike said.

"Oh, it's nowt. I probably just ate too fast" Rick said.

"Alright" Mike said, him and May-Li heading off only to be stopped by another groan.

"Hey, do you wanna go and lie down?" Mike asked.

"Do you want some water?" May-Li offered and I frowned when I saw his small smirk.

We all finished dinner and I helped to tidy up as everyone dispersed before heading up to my room, ignoring Carmen's scream and Mo's shouts.


	7. 27: Endurance

**Ella's PoV:**

"Ella, you've got the bag with the crisps and dips in, right?" Carmen asked as we headed up the drive and stepped into the house, making our way into the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"This going to be the most fun" Carmen grinned.

"I've been thinking about it all week" Faith said as we set the bags down on the counter.

"Why? What's going on?" Johnny asked.

"What's going on? It's the final of Find Me A Star tomorrow night!" Tyler exclaimed.

"Whoopee-do" Johnny muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, what do you know?" Faith said.

"Whatever. As long as it's finished by 7.30. Right, lads?" Johnny grinned.

"Englaaaand!" Bailey chanted.

"Ugh" I groaned.

"Football" Faith rolled her eyes.

"Yes, football. It's England. You know _the_ England against Portugal match" Rick said.

"It's a friendly, not even a real match" Faith said.

"And we've bagsied the TV" Tyler said.

"You can't bagsy the TV when there's an England match on" Bailey said.

"Well, we did" Carmen chuckled.

"MIKE!" We all shouted.

"You're gonna have to work it out. What can I say?" Mike said.

"Can't we get another telly?" Bailey asked.

"Stupid" I muttered.

"With what exactly?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. Emergency fund?" Bailey offered.

"There is no emergency fund. We can't afford an emergency fund and even if there was an emergency fund-"

"Alright, I get it" Bailey said, cutting Mike off.

"We bagsied it first, tell them it's ours!" Faith said.

"True, we did bagsy it first" Carmen said which caused everyone to start shouting over each other and I winced when Mike let out a loud whistle.

"Thanks for that, Mike. I've just gone deaf" I muttered.

"Obviously we're going to have to settle it the old fashioned way. May I introduce the ancient arts of debate and compromise, huh?" Mike grinned.

"Maybe not" Mike said when we gave him blank looks.

"How about Rock, Paper, Scissors? Coin toss?" Mike offered.

"I'm not giving up Find Me A Star on a coin toss" Carmen said.

"Well, you're going to have to work this out amongst yourselves. I might like to add that I was very much looking forward to watching a nature documentary tomorrow night on the Painted Dogs of the Okavango" Mike said and we all let out a laugh.

"But I am willing to go along with the majority decision" Mike said and we all walked out.

"HOUSE MEETING!" I yelled, going into the lounge and everyone soon joined us.

Tee, Carmen, Tyler, Faith and I sat on one sofa whilst Jody, Frank, Bailey, Johnny and Rick were sat around the other.

"Harry? Singers, dancers and a stand up comedian thats probably better than me" Tyler said.

"No Harry, no, you don't want to Harry" Jody said.

"Come on, Harry. Come on" Faith grinned.

"Okay" Harry said, making his decision and coming to sit beside me and we all cheered.

"Floss. You cute little Flossy" Carmen grinned.

"Floss, surely you want to watch the talent show, right?" Faith asked.

"Not bothered" She said.

"Right Floss, if you vote for the football now, we'll take you out for a pizza" Rick said.

"Floss. Watch Find Me A Star and we'll take you out for pizza and cake" Tyler persuaded.

"No, ice cream, ice cream! We'll buy you a big tub of ice cream" Bailey shouted.

"That might not be such a good idea. Not unless you like cleaning up sick" Mike said.

"Floss. Flossy, pizza, ice cream and my bracelet any time you wanna borrow it" Faith said.

"No, Floss, no" Jody said.

"Find Me A Star" Floss said, joining our team.

"Floss, we would have bought you one" Bailey sighed.

"Right, come on Mo. There's singing, dancing" Carmen said.

"I don't know anything about football" Mo said.

"Thats perfect, come on our team then" Carmen said.

"But I've never watched a talent show before"

"So come over here, Mo" Jody said and everyone started arguing.

"We're winning either way, there's seven of us. They only have five" I said.

"Put Mo down as undecided then" May-Li said.

"Thats not fair 'cos they're winning and he's got a vote left!" Rick said.

"We're still winning!" I said.

"He doesn't have to be on either team" Mike said.

"What's the point of voting? It's well out of order" Bailey said.

"Well, don't I get a vote?" May-Li asked.

"You want a vote?"

"Yeah, I wanna watch the football" May-Li said.

"But we've won then?" I said.

"But aren't you going out tomorrow night, Ella?" Mike asked.

"Not anymore" I said.

"I don't want to watch either" Floss announced.

"No Floss, you can't change your mind!" Carmen said.

"Can!" Floss argued.

"If Floss doesn't wanna watch, she doesn't have to" Mike said and Floss went to sit back next to Mo.

"Thats six votes each so great, nobody wins" Carmen sighed.

"Mike hasn't voted yet" Tee said.

"Yeah, you weren't here Tee. I voted for the Painted Dogs of the Okavango" Mike said.

"What?"

"Alright. Alright. We need a decider. A competition. Team Talent versus Team Football. Winner watches their show." Faith declared.

"Any ideas?" She asked.

"Touch the Telly. You have to have one hand on the telly or you're out" Tyler said.

"Alright so write this down; one hand on the TV at all times" May-Li said to Mo.

"Oi, hold on. What about loo breaks?" Carmen asked.

"Two" Rick said.

"No, five. I think five" Carmen said.

"Just don't drink too much"

"Three, if they still need the loo after that, they better go on the floor" Bailey said.

"Don't you dare" Mike said.

"Okay but we're gonna time the loo breaks, right?" May-Li said.

"How long does it take to get to the loo from here?" Johnny asked.

"It takes ages" Tee said.

"The fastest time to the loo and back is one minute and thirty-eight seconds" Tyler said.

"Why do you know that?" I asked.

"How do you know that?" Floss asked.

"Rick and I did time trials a while back" Tyler said and we all laughed.

"Are you being serious?"

"You're embarrassing"

"We were bored!" Tyler defended.

"Okay so let's round it up to two minutes then yeah?"

"Yeah"

"Give you time to wash your hands" May-Li grinned.

"Good idea. And all the other Ashdene rules apply. Play nice" Mike said.

"I wanna play" Floss said.

"You can't cos you wouldn't vote!" Jody snapped.

"Hey Flossy, how about me and you are a team, yeah?" I asked.

"Thats not fair" Bailey said.

"The rules are that we both have to keep one hand on the telly and if one of us removes it, we're both out" I said.

"That sounds fair" May-Li said.

"Okay" Everyone agreed and I nodded, smirking at Bailey who looked sour and everyone started chanting.

I headed into the kitchen with Floss and Tee to collect some snacks before taking them up to Faith's room.

"Here" I said and they stuffed them in a backpack.

"So, we can read as long as we're near the telly?" Floss asked when we picked out magazines.

"No Floss, your hand has to be on the TV at all times" Faith said.

"So is someone going to read to us?"

"No Floss, we're all gonna be doing our own thing" Carmen explained.

"I give her ten minutes" Carmen said.

"She'll survive longer than that" I said.

"You're only saying that 'cos it's you who'll be out" Carmen said.

"Exactly" I said and then there was a whistle, everyone rushing downstairs.

"Alright?! Everybody ready?" Mike shouted and we all crowded around the telly, placing a hand on the box.

"Here we go" Mo said as he started the game.

"Whose stupid idea was this?" Faith asked after we'd been stood around for about three minutes.

"This is a really stupid idea" Harry said.

"Why didn't we just play a board game?" I sighed.

"Frank, don't join in yeah? They're gonna get hungry later on" Johnny said when Tee and Floss handed us all food.

"Yeah, they are" Frank grinned.

"Hey, what do you think of a stand up comedy act where the guy does a contortionist thing whilst his hands still on the telly at all times?" Tyler asked.

"Does a what thing?" Floss asked.

"You know, all that weird, bendy stuff with his arms and legs" Tyler said.

"Sounds a bit mad, Tyler" Floss said and we all chuckled.

"Even for you, mate" Rick agreed.

"No look, I can do it" Tyler said.

"Be careful" Carmen said.

"Oh, hes gonna fall" Johnny said, only for Tyler to stand up.

"Yeah, I think it's gonna need to be a bit more clever than that really" Tee said.

"And not totally naff" Bailey added.

"Alright then. Watch this" Tyler said.

"Tyler, how about we don't?" I offered.

"Tyler, watch out!" Carmen said and I sighed when he fell over onto the sofa.

"You're out, mate" Bailey grinned as the football team celebrated.

"What are you doing?" Harry sighed, facepalming.

"You dufus, we've only been going two minutes" Carmen sighed.

"You are disqualified!" Mo announced.

"One down! One down!" Their team cheered.

"I can't believe it. I'm really sorry, guys" Tyler said.

"Okay. So, Team Talent have five people remaining but Team Football have six people remaining!" Mo announced and team football cheered, Tyler walking out.

"Right, you horrible lot. Food's up!" Mike announced as he walked in.

"Mo, go and eat with Tyler. I'll hold the fort and then I must be off" Mike instructed, sitting in Mo's place.

"Is that spaghetti with special sauce?" Frank asked.

"Might be" Mike grinned.

"Mike, just please bring it in now, we're so hungry" Carmen whined.

"Sorry but if you want to eat, you'll have to do it at the table" Mike said over everyone's protests.

"You know we can't do that" I said, everyone starting to talk over one another.

"I am not having twelve portions of spaghetti dribbled all over the carpet. Not to mention, down the back of the television" Mike concluded.

"Yeah, right. Sorry about that but thems the rules" Mike grinned and we all groaned.

"Pass me some crisps, Tee" I sighed and she handed out food to us all.

"Right Frank, come on, mate. Focus, yeah. What's more important? England or your stomach?" Johnny encouraged.

"Oh, that is not fair"

"Just think Frank, live goals. Live England goals" Rick said and I looked up to see Frank hurrying off and I let out a laugh.

_**15 minutes later..**_

I looked down when I heard Floss slurping to see her drinking a can of fizzy pop and I groaned.

"Flossy, no! No fizzy drinks. Thats guaranteed to make you go to the toilet" Faith said.

"It's the bubbles" Carmen said.

"I like the bubbles" Floss declared.

"Well, you can't have the bubbles because it makes you pee" Carmen said, taking her drink off her.

"Uh, uh. Get your own" Floss said, taking it back.

"I don't want my own. I just don't want you going to the toilet in twenty minutes" Carmen said.

"Right, can we, er, stop talking about the toilet please?" Johnny said.

"Can't you wait any longer?" Harry asked.

"Look, I can understand Floss not being able to handle it, y'know, cos she's six" Carmen said and we chuckled.

"Did you drink a load of water before we started?" Harry asked.

"Hydration's important" Johnny said.

"Wow" I laughed.

"Mo, I need a loo break!" Johnny shouted.

"Wait! Don't move yet, I haven't started the timer!" Mo shouted, running in.

"Go!" He said as he started the timer and Johnny ran from the room.

"One minute, thirty seven" Mo said when Johnny returned.

"You're as mad as a box of frogs" Mike said.

"Er guys, the stairs are booby-trapped" Johnny muttered.

"What have you been doing?" Frank snapped.

"Nothing. What?" Tyler snapped.

"Anyway guys, I've got some sweets finely priced for you all" Frank announced.

"Oh please" Faith begged.

"Can I have some?" Harry asked, everyone starting to beg.

"Alright, alright. I'll be back for your orders"

"Give the man a chance" Tyler said when Jody's hand shot up.

"I need a loo break" Jody announced.

"What is up with you lot?" Rick asked.

"Go" Mo said and Jody ran from the room.

"Watch the stairs!" Johnny called after her.

"Mike! Mike! Let me out!" I heard Jody shouted.

"Sounds like she's stuck" I said.

"Where have you been?" May-Li asked when Jody finally returned.

"Door handle came off. Mo, was that more than two minutes?" She asked.

"Um, four minutes and fourteen seconds longer than two minutes, so you're disqualified" Mo said.

"Jody" Rick groaned.

"You set me up" Jody snapped at Tyler.

"Don't have a go at me just 'cos you're clumsy. The bathroom was falling apart anyway, I didn't touch it" Tyler said.

"He's a liar!" Jody said and Mike grabbed her when she went for him.

"To be honest, there's quite a few things around here that need fixing" Mike said.

"Mike! I'm not putting up with a dirty tricks campaign here" May-Li said.

"Quite right. May-Li has spoken, there will be no dirty tricks. Even though Tyler has assured us that this one wasn't. Sorry Jody" Mike said.

"Okay. Well, I'm looking forward to watching whatever it is with the winners tomorrow night. You're in charge" Mike said to May-Li.

"I'm leading by example here" May-Li said.

"If the phone goes, you'll have to get one of the lads to answer it" Mike said.

"Yeah, no problem"

"Well, goodnight to you all. You loonies" Mike said.

"See ya!" I called after him as he left the house and the phone rang.

"Well, well, well, look at that. The phone rings almost immediately after Mike mentions it. Don't worry, I'll get it" May-Li said.

"Hang on, you're gonna have to take that as a loo break" Tee said.

"It's okay. I've got it sorted" May-Li said, pulling the phone from her pocket and answering.

"Hello, Ashdene Ridge?" She said.

"Er, hello there"

"Hello, can I help?" May-Li asked.

"I was just wondering if I could have the deep pan lunch special with a bottle of cola"

"I can't believe you're still hungry, Tyler. You've just had that massive plate of spaghetti" May-Li said and we laughed.

"Tyler, that is just pathetic!" Bailey called.

"I'm so sorry, did you think I'd have to answer it in the office?" May-Li laughed.

"Sorry, er, can't hear you. Bye!" The phone hung up and I chuckled.

"What about listening to some music?" Jody suggested.

"Yeah but good luck getting everyone to agree on what" Carmen said.

"Yeah, I could do with some music. What've we got?" Rick asked.

"Anything's fine. Harry, put the radio on, will you?" May-Li asked.

"Bring it up"

"There's no chance I'm listening to classical music, I already have a headache" I said, letting out a sigh when no one could decide.

"I'm bored. See you later" Floss said, getting up and walking off.

"Floss!" I shouted after her.

"Floss? What just happened?" Carmen asked.

"Should I time her?" Mo asked.

"No" Floss said, walking off.

"Floss!" I called after her.

"Sorry Ella, you're disqualified."

"Has she just walked? Floss! Come back here!" Tyler shouted and I groaned.

"At least I can have some food" I sighed, walking into the kitchen and plating myself up some food.

_**15 minutes later..**_

I flopped down on the sofa to watch the others continue their competition.

"How much?!" Bailey spat when Frank walked in with his tray of sweets that he was selling for a pound each.

"Well, if you don't want any" Frank trailed off, going to leave the room.

"Wait!" They all shouted and I chuckled.

"Frank, where'd you get the sweets from?" May-Li asked.

"A friend of a friend" Frank grinned.

"What is that?" Tee asked when there was a sound of running water and I knew Jody was up to something.

"What are you doing?!" Tee snapped.

"Oh this? I thought it might be relaxing" Jody said.

"Mo, start the clock" Tee said, running from the room to go to the toilet.

"Get away from us with that thing!" Faith snapped.

"Please turn it off" May-Li asked.

"Jody!" Carmen snapped after Tee returned as she was still playing the running water.

"That really didn't help me at all" May-Li sighed.

"Right, that is it! No more cheating, okay?" Carmen shouted.

"Carmen's right. My team, my team, be strong. No one else needs to go, okay?" Faith said.

"You big cheat" Tyler said to Jody, standing up and I got up myself in case I needed to break them up.

"You can talk! Fair's fair, Tyler" Jody said, shoving him which caused Rick and Faith to bang heads and their hands left the TV to hold their head.

"Oi! Pack it in" I said, pushing Jody onto the sofa.

"Jody!" Faith snapped.

"It was an accident" She shrugged.

"Mo's the adjudicator" May-Li said and I watched Mo cross their names off.

"That is not fair!" Faith snapped and then the smoke alarm went off.

"Oh no! It's the special sauce!" Jody said.

"Right, everyone, out that front door! Wait for me outside and don't come back in for anything. Ella, get Floss" May-Li ordered as she ran into the kitchen.

"Flossy! We need to go!" I yelled and she came running in, taking my hand.

"Okay, we should go" Tee said.

"I think we should definitely go" Faith agreed.

"Yeah but then the games over" Rick said.

"Um, well I have a suggestion" Mo said and I watched as Mo explained his plan and the others still in the competition carried the TV out of the lounge.

"Guys, what are you all still doing here? I thought I told you guys to get out" May-Li asked.

"No, no, we are leaving, we just didn't wanna give up on the competition" Rick said.

"Your safety's more important here. I mean, that could have been really serious in there. If this contest means I can't keep you guys safe then I'm just gonna have to call it off" May-Li said.

"It doesn't mean that. We were trying to be safe, honest" Faith said.

"May-Li, it's my fault. I'm the one who left the pan on. Please don't stop the competition just because of me" Jody begged.

"Alright, fine. This contest goes ahead but I can't participate anymore, okay?" May-Li said.

"You're disqualified anyway" Bailey said.

"Thanks. Look, no more pranks, yeah? Tyler, clear the stuff up on the stairs. Jody, the kitchen needs cleaning and airing out and er, I think I'm just gonna keep an eye on the place from now on" May-Li said and they all took the TV back into the lounge.

"Floss honey, are you gonna head up and get ready for bed?" May-Li said and Floss headed upstairs.

I was joined on the sofa by Faith and Rick and we snuggled under Faith's duvet, slowly drifting off.

"Harry mate, you're out" Rick muttered, jolting from my sleep and I groaned.

"Oh, hes not the only one" May-Li said.

"Carmen?"

"Mm?"

"You're out, sweetheart" May-Li said and Carmen sighed, going back to sleep which left Tee, Johnny and Bailey.

**NEXT DAY**

"Morning all!" Mike shouted and I groaned when it woke me up.

"Isn't that a bit premature, Jody?" Mike asked and I saw she'd started to decorate the room in England scarves.

"I don't think so"

"Too tired to argue" Tee muttered.

"Oh morning Mike" May-Li said, waking up.

"Morning. Erm, what's that smell?" Mike asked.

"Oh yeah, I burnt some toast" May-Li said, covering for Jody.

"Can you move around a bit?" Bailey asked Johnny, shoving him slightly.

"Oh stop banging on, will ya?" Johnny muttered.

"Tee, wake up" Faith said, shaking her.

"Are those the sweets that I bought for Halloween last year?" Mike asked.

"Oh erm Mike, I was just-"

"It wasn't last year, it was the year before. Are they alright? I was gonna throw them in the bin" Mike said.

"Two year old sweets and you were selling them to us for a quid" Carmen groaned.

"Frank?"

"How many more times, Johnny? Can you stand over there and stop elbowing me?" Bailey snapped.

"Guys!"

"I didn't elbow you, alright? Calm down" Johnny said.

"This is your elbow, right? And this is what you're doing with it" Bailey said and I moaned, wanting them to shut up.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm showing you how annoying it is" Bailey snapped.

"Back off" Johnny muttered.

"Or what?"

"Guys, come on" May-Li said.

"Here, how'd you like it?" Johnny said, shoving Bailey and they both started shoving each other.

"Guys!" Mike said and they both fell over.

"We won! Yes! We won!" Faith cheered, jumping up and down.

"I did it! I won!" Tee grinned.

"Team Talent!" Faith and Tyler chanted.

_**Hours later..**_

"Right Frank, give everyone their money back" Mike said as we were all gathered around the TV for the Find Me A Star final.

"You promise we can flick over to the football during the adverts?" Bailey asked.

"Yes! Calm down!" Faith said.

"My team always wins" Faith said and I nudged Johnny so he'd move up slightly.

"I'm not watching this, no way" Rick said.

"Shut up, it's good" Tee said, shoving his leg.

It had only been on five minutes before I'd drifted off, my head rested on Johnny's shoulder and I knew it wouldn't long before we were all asleep.


	8. 28: I Have A Dream

**Ella's PoV:**

"Are you gonna go show May-Li what you got?" I said as Mo and I stepped inside, I'd been in charge of taking him to get some new books and we headed into the kitchen.

"Did you get some good books, Mo?" May-Li asked.

"I got this. You get to go to the theme park if you win" Mo said, talking about a voucher he'd picked up.

"Let's see. Oh, you have to write a short story" Tee said as Carmen, Bailey and Johnny joined us around the breakfast bar.

"Winner gets two tickets. You should give it a go" Johnny said to Mo, handing him the flyer.

"Letter for you, Bailey" May-Li said, handing his post to him.

"Who's that from?" Carmen asked.

"I'll read it later" Bailey said.

"Is it important?" Mo asked him.

"I said I'll read it later" Bailey snapped, walking off.

"Ooh!" Johnny teased.

"Hey, come on" May-Li scolded and I jabbed Johnny in the rib with my elbow.

"Leave him be" I said, shaking my head before heading upstairs to sort out my washing.

I grabbed my washing basket for dark clothes and headed downstairs, putting them in the washing machine as Rick did the same with his whites.

"Too late" Rick said as Faith walked in her with her washing.

"Thats not a full load" Faith said.

"Well, I'm not having your.. I'm not having those in with mine. Put them in with Ella's" Rick said.

"Mine's a dark wash, you moron" I said, setting the washing machine going as Faith put her clothes in Rick's machine.

"I said no!" He shouted.

"You gonna take them out then?" Faith said and I rolled my eyes, slipping past Rick and heading into the lounge.

_**40 minutes later..**_

I got up when I heard the washing machine finish and Faith went over to Rick.

"Is there something wrong with your ears?" She asked.

"Work fine, they heard you coming" He mumbled.

"So why have you not got up and got the washing?" She asked him and I rolled my eyes, heading into the laundry room to get my own washing from the machine, ignoring Frank who was hanging about.

"You wanna hang mine out too, love?" Rick called after Faith as she walked in.

"Rick! Get in here!" Faith shouted and I hid my laughter when I saw their clothes had turned pink.

"Look at my dress!" Faith said as Rick and Tyler walked in, Tyler laughing as Rick went into the washing machine.

"All my stuffs ruined too. Anyway, why are you complaining? Girls wear pink" Rick said as Jody and May-Li walked in.

"Look what he's done. Useless!" Faith snapped and May-Li chuckled.

"No, I'm not!" Rick snapped.

"You can't even put a wash on!"

"Maybe I shouldn't have to" Rick said.

"What?" Jody snapped.

"You know, some things boys do, some things girls do. It's just the way it is" Rick explained.

"Like what?"

"Watch yourself, Rick" I hissed before he could open his mouth.

"I don't know, cooking and stuff" Rick shrugged.

"Er, what about Jamie Oliver?" May-Li said.

"Exactly. If a bloke puts his mind to something, he's better at it" Rick said.

"I can't believe you just said that" Faith said, shaking her head.

"Alright. Let me prove it. Name a challenge, me against Faith" Rick said.

"Well, I've never seen either of you bake a cake so how about that?" May-Li said.

"Alright, you want me to bake a cake?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. A bake off, tomorrow" May-Li declared.

"Yeah and the loser has to wear that pink dress" Jody added.

"Yep" May-Li nodded and I rolled my eyes, putting my wet clothes into the dryer before stepping into the kitchen to see Bailey and Mo unpacking the shopping.

"What've you bought this for?" I asked, holding up the pineapple and Mo shrugged.

"Hello. I don't remember asking for these" May-Li said as she joined us, spotting the football trading cards.

"Shopper's perk?" Bailey offered.

"Where's the pasta? Where's the milk? You've got no veg. Bailey, I told you to write a list" May-Li asked.

"She's right, she did" Mo said.

"What am I supposed to make with this lot?" May-Li asked and Bailey walked off.

"Do you know what? I could help" Mo said.

"Oh thats okay, Mo. You concentrate on your story. I'll think of something" May-Li said.

"Need a hand?" I asked.

"No, you go on. Don't forget about those clothes in the dryer" May-Li reminded me, taking a washing basket and heading upstairs.

I hopped up onto a bar stool and grabbed my magazine, waiting for my clothes to dry, barely paying attention to May-Li who was flitting around the kitchen.

"Ella, could you shout everyone?" May-Li asked and I nodded, going into the hall.

"DINNER" I hollered before going to sit at the table, everyone joining me.

"I'm starving" Harry said as Mo and May-Li brought the food over.

"What are we having?" Frank asked.

"Well, thanks to Bailey's rather inventive interpretation of my shopping list, it's" May-Li said, Mo doing a drum roll.

"Fritter surprise!" He announced.

"What's in them?" Floss asked and I placed some salad on my plate, deciding against the fritters.

"Well, thats the surprise" Mo said and Johnny and Tyler took a bite.

"Jam. Nice. Not sure it goes with salad though" Johnny said.

"This one's tuna" Frank said.

"How is it?" May-Li asked.

"Really good" Frank said.

"I could make my story about them" Mo said and I rolled my eyes.

"What? 'A Tale of Two Fritters'?" May-Li said and we chuckled.

"Why just two? We've got loads" Mo asked.

"No, it's a book by Charles Dickens" Tee explained.

"He wrote about fritters?"

"Tell him he can't write about our tea" Tyler said to May-Li.

"Why can't I?"

"There's no point anyway. This is Tee's story, this is going to walk it" Carmen said.

"'Sheena tossed and turned amidst profound terror as the mists stalked her dreams where the dark memory of her past was unleashed'" Carmen read out.

"Okay, that was too many big words" I said.

"It's useless, isn't it?" Tee sighed.

"What's it about?" Frank asked.

"Well, it's about a girl who has a horrible past and she has these dark powers" Carmen said and Bailey over-exaggerated a yawn.

"Oi, don't be mean" Johnny said.

"No, hes right. It's trying too hard, I'll start again" Tee said.

"Yeah cos that'll be so much better" Bailey scoffed.

"I'd like to see you try" Tee frowned.

"I could do it with my eyes closed, mate" Bailey boasted.

"Yeah? Prove it, get writing" Tee challenged.

"Can't be bothered" Bailey said.

"You're not backing down before you've even started, are ya Bailey?" I asked with a smirk and Johnny made a chicken noise.

"Okay, enough! If you both write a story, I'll judge. I'll read yours too, Mo" May-Li said.

"I'm in. Bailey?" Tee said and he nodded.

"Okay then. You have until lunch time tomorrow. Now can we please just eat?" May-Li said.

"I'm not going anywhere near that" Carmen said.

"Nah, I'm not either" I said, shaking my head.

_**3 hours later..**_

I got up when I heard a bang and shook my head, slipping my dressing gown on before heading downstairs into the kitchen.

"What are you two doing?" I whispered when I spotted Rick and Tyler crowded around something.

"Thats a shambles" I said, coming over and spotting their smashed up 'cake'.

"Nearly broke my tooth" Rick muttered as they both tried some.

"Better if you suck it" Tyler said.

"You don't suck cake" Rick snapped, putting it in the bin as Bailey walked in.

"Been cooking?" He asked.

"Don't be daft. What are you doing up?" Rick asked.

"Just wanted a drink" Bailey said.

"What about you?" Bailey nodded towards me.

"Same as you" I said.

"Night, you two" Rick said, him and Tyler heading upstairs and I grabbed a glass of water before heading up myself, only to be dragged into their room.

"You won't tell anyone that we were baking, will you?" Rick asked.

"Nope but just so the record's straight, I hope you lose 'cos I cannot wait to see you two muppets in a dress" I said, pinching his upper arm so he'd release my wrist and heading back to my room.

**NEXT DAY**

"Morning" I muttered as I stepped into the kitchen, sitting down beside Tyler at the table.

"Looking forward to the bake off?" May-Li asked.

"I'm looking forward to it" Rick said.

"What? To wearing a dress?" Faith asked.

"Oh, so you've been up all night writing your story then?" Carmen said to Bailey with a smirk on her face.

"Don't be mean" Mo said.

"Tee's is nearly finished" Carmen boasted.

"Leave him alone" Mo said.

"Shut up, Mo" Bailey snapped.

"He was only trying to be nice" Tee frowned.

"Get stuffed!" He spat.

"If you can't be polite Bailey, I don't want you at the table" May-Li said and he huffed, getting up and leaving the room and Mo followed.

"Leave him a minute, Mo" May-Li said and Mo took his seat again.

We finished breakfast and I helped to tidy up, Faith, Jody, Tyler and Rick coming in and starting to bake.

"Oi, make a mess and you're cleaning it up. I've just done it" I said, sitting down at the breakfast bar so I could watch them all.

_**30 minutes later..**_

"Right. Everything you need to ice them is over here and remember, the theme is this place" May-Li said when they'd taken their cakes from the oven.

"Wait, you never said anything about icing" Faith said.

"What's a cake without icing? May the best cake win!" May-Li grinned and I got up, heading outside and peering into the tent to find Tee.

"What you doing out here on your own?" I asked.

"Trying to write this stupid story" Tee sighed.

"Mind if I sit? I won't disturb you, I just need quiet" I said.

"Go ahead" Tee nodded, shifting her screwed up bits of papers and I got myself comfortable.

"Tee!" Carmen called and I heard Tee quietly groan.

"Where is she?" Floss asked.

"What you doing out here?" Floss asked when they spotted us in the tent.

"Trying to get some peace" Tee sighed.

"So, have you finished yet?" Carmen asked.

"Well, according to you, yeah" Tee huffed.

"You know I was only trying to wind up Bailey" Carmen said.

"Can you just let me get on with it?" Tee snapped.

"What's up with her?" Floss muttered as her and Carmen walked off.

"Oh, nothing. She's just being temperamental. It's what creative people tend to do" Carmen said.

_**10 minutes later..**_

"I'm finally done" Tee breathed.

"You best go hand it in, times nearly up" I said and she nodded, crawling from the tent and I followed, heading into the lounge.

"What are you doing?" Bailey snapped.

"Watching TV. Don't you think you should be handing in your story? Tee's finished" I said.

"Alright everyone! Let's judge these cakes" May-Li called after a good fifteen minutes and she walked in with the cakes and their owners and we all crowded around.

"Faith's definitely wins, Rick's is just a mound of sweets" Tee said.

"Yeah but I bet we'd all like some. Right, I think Frank should decide." May-Li said.

"No, he'll be on their side!" Jody protested.

"Yeah but he's gotta make up for the pink washing" May-Li said.

"I knew you were up to something yesterday" I said to Frank and he smiled sheepishly.

"You what?" Rick said.

"Yep. It was him that put the football shirt in the wash" Faith explained.

"Sorry mate" Frank said.

"Well, hang on, so you should be doing this, not me" Rick said.

"Doesn't change anything. This is still about you being a sexist pig" Faith said, slapping Rick's arm.

"So let's get on with it. Frank, I am trusting you to be unbiased" May-Li said, handing him the plate with two slices of cake on for him to try.

"That is really, really good" Frank said and Rick and Tyler celebrated.

"Now for Faith's. Lighter, delicate" Frank approved.

"Yeah but yours is really small" Frank said to Rick.

"What did I say?" Tyler snapped.

"So the winner is Faith!" Frank said and I laughed as Jody and Faith celebrated.

"Do you lads want me to do your makeup?" I teased and they laughed, sarcastically as I headed into the kitchen as dinner was ready.

"They're coming! They're coming!" Jody shouted, running in and we all rushed around the breakfast bar and I got my phone out, ready to take photos.

"You ready, Harry?" May-Li asked and we all burst out laughing as they walked in.

"Kinda suits you" Faith teased.

"Don't push it!" Rick snapped.

"Looking stunning, boys!" I laughed.

"You guys ready for your close-ups?" May-Li asked.

"Of course" Rick said and the three of them started posing so Harry and I could take photos.

"Right, food's up everyone!" May-Li said and we all sat down to eat.

"Right. Before we eat, I have another announcement. I've read the short stories." May-Li announced.

"Can we speed it up slightly? Cos I'm starving" I smiled.

"Tee's story is brilliant. It's fast paced, full of amazing imagery. Really, really impressive" May-Li said and I chuckled when Frank was the only one to clap.

"And this is Bailey's. It's very different" May-Li said.

"Yeah, I bet it is" Johnny laughed.

"It's incredibly moving and the drawings well, they're just beautiful" May-Li said.

"Thanks" Bailey smiled.

"What? So you mean he's won?" Carmen spat.

"I do, yeah. Well done Bailey" May-Li said.

"Yeah, well done" Tee smiled.

"Would you like to read a bit for us?" May-Li asked.

"Could I? Please?" Mo asked.

"Yeah, go ahead" May-Li nodded.

"'Ally looked at the envelope, it was the first and only letter she'd ever had. So precious yet she was scared to look inside' It's about a girl in care who gets a letter" Mo said.

"Oh well done, Mo" Jody sighed.

"Obviously"

"'Hours passed as she looked. She knew it was from her mother. Every thought and dream for the past months was won or lost by what was inside'" Mo continued.

"Didn't I tell you it was impressive?" May-Li said.

"You can't stop there, what happened?" Tee asked.

"Do you mind if they read it?"

"Yeah, if you want" Bailey said.

"I thought you were helping Mo with his story" Harry said.

"That didn't work out" Bailey explained.

"It doesn't say she goes into care until later on so how did you know that, Mo?" Carmen asked.

"Must have guessed" Bailey said.

"Is that why you didn't finish your story? 'cos you were writing his?" Tee asked.

"You've got it wrong" Mo snapped.

"You're just a bully" Johnny snapped.

"Oh yeah, course" Bailey sighed.

"Wait, let Bailey explain" May-Li said.

"How could you do that to Mo?" Tee asked.

"I didn't do anything to Mo" Bailey said, shaking his head.

"Right so he didn't help you? You're pathetic. I can't believe you cheated" Tee frowned.

"He didn't. He really didn't. Stop it, just stop it!" Mo snapped, storming out and May-Li followed him.

"Leave him alone now, let's just eat" I said and we all sat in silence, tucking into our food and Bailey ran up to his room as soon as he'd done and Mo came back to eat.

"Are you okay, Mo?" I asked and he nodded.

**NEXT DAY**

"Special delivery for Bailey, do you want me to read it?" May-Li asked as she came into the kitchen whilst we were eating breakfast.

"Yeah" Bailey nodded.

"You won the story competition!" May-Li grinned.

"No way" Carmen said.

"Yeah, I think she means well done" May-Li smiled.

"Yeah, congratulations"

"Thanks"

"Now, all you have to do is decide who to take" May-Li said.

"Mo, do you fancy it?" Bailey asked and I smiled, glad he did the right thing.

"You'll take me? Do you really wanna take me?" Mo asked.

"Course I do" Bailey said.

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Mo said and I let out an aww as he ran around to hug Bailey.


End file.
